One is a 14th-century Hindu saint who left her husband, stripped off her clothes and recited poetry to get closer to God. The other is a 20-year-old violin prodigy who left her home town of West Kilbride and went to No 1 with her debut album. They may be worlds apart, but according to the composer John Tavener, Lalla Yogeshwari and the violinist Nicola Benedetti have more in common than it seems.

"They are connected by their maturity, their innocence and their rapture," says Tavener, who has written two new works for Benedetti. One of them, a four-movement concerto called Lalishri, is also inspired by Yogeshwari, and will be premiered by Benedetti and the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall on September 26. "Yogeshwari would sing improvised poems, and Nicola's playing has a very vocal quality. Her violin is the voice of Yogeshwari."

The concerto draws on Indian musical forms, in particular dhrupad, India's oldest form of classical singing, and includes an improvised section. For Benedetti, who has been studying Indian music, this has made a refreshing change to the western classical repertoire. "It's much freer, but I'm still toying with how much I should leave to inspiration on the night," she says.

A second work by Tavener, called Dhyana ("meditation"), is also on Benedetti's third album, released at the end of this month. "We live in an increasingly perverted, masculine society," Tavener says. "These works are about feminine expression."

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