Sheku Kanneh-Mason

Sheku Kanneh-Mason
Genres Classical
Instruments Cello
Labels Decca Records
Associated acts Chineke! orchestra
Website http://www.kannehmasons.com/

Sheku Kanneh-Mason is a British cellist who won the 2016 BBC Young Musician of the Year award. He was the first black musician to win the award since its launch 38 years earlier.[1]

Biography

Sheku Kanneh-Mason (born 1999) grew up in Nottingham, England. He is the third eldest of the seven children of Stuart and Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason (a business manager, and former university lecturer respectively),[2] and began playing the cello at the age of six and a half years old, having briefly played the violin.[3] At the age of nine, he passed the Grade 8 cello examination with the highest marks in the UK,[4][5] and winning the Marguerite Swan Memorial Prize.[6] Also aged 9 he won an ABRSM junior scholarship to join the Junior Academy of the Royal Academy of Music, where he was tutored by Ben Davies.[1][7][8] Kanneh-Mason received his non-specialist education as a pupil at the Trinity School, Nottingham,[8] where he studied for A levels in Music, Maths and Physics.[6]

In 2015, he and his siblings were competitors on Britain's Got Talent as The Kanneh-Masons. He won the BBC's Young Musician of the Year contest in May 2016, later telling The Observer that appearing on Britain's Got Talent had been "a good experience for getting used to performing in front of lots of people, with cameras and interviews. When it came to BBC Young Musician there were fewer cameras so I wasn't fazed at all."[3]

Kanneh-Mason is a member of the Chineke! orchestra, which was founded by Chi-chi Nwanoku for black and minority ethnic classical musicians; his sister Isata and an elder brother are also members.[3] In 2016, Kanneh-Mason told The Guardian's Tom Service that

"Chineke! is a really inspiring project. I rarely go to a concert and see that kind of diversity in the orchestra. Or in the audience. Having the orchestra will definitely change the culture. It's so important we're celebrating music by black composers, too, like the piece by Chevalier de Saint-Georges we're playing in September."[9]

In November 2016, Kanneh-Mason was the subject of a BBC Four documentary entitled Young, Gifted and Classical: The Making of a Maestro.[10]

Musical influences

Kanneh-Mason has cited the prominent cellists Jacqueline du Pré and Mstislav Rostropovich as his "musical heroes," alongside Bob Marley.[3]

Career

Sheku Kanneh-Mason signed a record deal with classical music label Decca Classics in November 2016. The record deal was signed on board a Nottingham City Council bus which the local authority had named in his honour after Kanneh-Mason won the BBC Young Musician contest.[11] The label announced that his first recording would feature the piece with which he won the BBC's Young Musician of the Year contest, Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No.1.[1]

Awards

Kanneh-Mason was the winner of the 2016 BBC Young Musician of the Year award, following which his home town of Nottingham named a bus in his honour.[1][11] His other awards include the Royal Philharmonic Society Young Instrumentalist Duet Prize 2016.[12][13]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "17-year-old cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason signs to Decca Classics". The Strad. Newsquest. 10 November 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  2. ↑ Crampton, Caroline (4 September 2016). "Sheku Kanneh-Mason on football, maths and Shostakovich". New Statesman. London. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Jaward, Isa (20 November 2016). "Sheku Kanneh-Mason: 'I've always felt that I fitted in'". The Observer. London. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  4. ↑ Freeman-Attwood, Jonathan (16 May 2016). "The Principal's Blog: Congratulations, Sheku". www.ram.ac.uk. Royal Academy of Music. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  5. ↑ "Nottingham comprehensive school teenager wins BBC Young Musician competition with 'electric' performance". The Daily Telegraph. London. 16 May 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  6. 1 2 NottmPostEG (19 October 2016). "BBC Young Musician of the Year 2016 Sheku Kanneh-Mason on his Royal Concert Hall debut". Nottingham Post. Nottingham. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  7. ↑ Davies, Ben (31 August 2016). "Behind the talent". estastrings.org.uk. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  8. 1 2 "Sheku Kanneh-Mason: Strings". BBC Online. BBC. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  9. ↑ Service, Tom (1 September 2016). "Sheku Kanneh-Mason: 'Classical music isn't elitist – the problem is it's expensive'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  10. ↑ Narrator: Sophie Okonedo, Director: Eddie Hutton-Mills, Producer: Clare Bradbury, Production Company: Outline Productions Ltd (20 November 2016). "Young, Gifted and Classical: The Making of a Maestro". Black and British. BBC. BBC Four.
  11. 1 2 Wright, Katy (10 November 2016). "Sheku Kanneh-Mason signs with Decca Classics". www.rhinegold.co.uk. Rhinegold Publishing. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  12. ↑ "RPS Duet Prize Winners Announced". royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk. Royal Philharmonic Society. 5 May 2016. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  13. ↑ "Nottingham City Transport honours Nottingham-born BBC Young Musician 2016, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, with his very own bus!". www.nctx.co.uk. Nottingham City Transport. 13 September 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
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