En7 — STRINGS: Sheku Kanneh-Mason
“It’s a great luxury and, to be honest, very addictive”
WORDS BY EMMA SCHMIEDECKE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY OLLIE ALI
ILLUSTRATION BY ELLA MAZUR
INTERVIEW BY MICHAEL ZARATHUS-COOK
When a new voice hits the scene that brings exciting perspectives to the often-uniform set-up of classical music, people begin to take notice. That is emphatically the case with string star Sheku Kanneh-Mason, whose first-place win at the 2016 BBC Young Musician competition launched him into a high-profile career that’s since cascaded into an international touring, recording, and teaching career. Likewise impressive is how Kanneh-Mason has evaded the pretentiousness that is often inaccurately attributed to classical musicians. He is intensely in love with the music, an affair that supersedes the pomp and ceremony that accompanies life as a celebrity soloist.
It is this devotion to music, and its tremendous variety, that animates his latest album, Song. This deeply personal album combines classical favourites with folk and jazz tunes, and platters collaborations with friends and colleagues such as jazz pianist Harry Baker, singer-songwriter Zak Abel, and soprano Pumeza Matshikiza. Genres of music other than classical have had a profound effect on his ear; with his mother’s Welsh heritage, he has an intimate knowledge of the folk music of the British Isles as well as that of African songs and styles. The album is a busy dialogue between classical cello repertoire and sound worlds that are not usually heard alongside the classical tradition, the result of which is a fresh compilation of excerpts and interpretations that push the boundaries of his robust instrument.
Outside of the recording studio, Kanneh-Mason is inspired by a mission to teach the next generation of cellists to be better performers. Part of this mission is to help his students develop good technique and musicality, and to help them mine their own creative sensibilities while also encouraging them towards playing the music they feel most drawn to, whether it be classical, folk, jazz, popular, or the increasingly popular melanges of these genres. The technical exercise of performance is only the starting point for Kanneh-Mason. The goal in performance is a human experience that connects us all─something that the world is in desperate need of currently. What stories do we have in common and how can we participate in appreciating them together? These are the questions that Kanneh-Mason’s performance philosophy implicitly answers. It is a luxury of life that we all should be able to participate in. In conversation with Cannopy Magazine, he reflects on the space in his mind and heart for all that music has to offer, and how the modern soloist can invite everyone into this space.
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