Latest news with #Sheku
San Francisco Chronicle
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Review: Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason dazzle in S.F. Symphony recital with rare sonatas
Young artists can't make it big without playing the big concertos — long, technically difficult works that take years to perfect. By this metric, siblings Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason have certainly earned their respective places in the spotlight. Last season, Bay Area audiences were treated to the former soloing in Dmitri Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1 with the San Francisco Symphony, and it surely won't be long before the latter digs into her piano repertoire with the orchestra here. But for anyone who somehow missed the siblings' previous local performances, including a joint recital at Davies Symphony Hall in 2022, the pair's return on Sunday, June 1, as part of the Symphony's Great Performers Series, made a most illuminating introduction to their larger-than-life artistry. Otherworldly legato distinguished Sheku's performance, especially in the evening's first work, Felix Mendelssohn's songlike Cello Sonata No. 1. Each movement of the piece arced with the appropriate drama, but the phrasing was mostly subtle, the sound refined. Playing with husky, high-up-the-string fingerings and his bow near the fingerboard, Sheku created sounds to make the listener lean in. You'd be forgiven not to have appreciated, at first, the magnitude of Isata's contribution — her physical movements at the keyboard were that efficient. But these pretty cello melodies wouldn't stay afloat without the pianist's finger-twisting figurations, and Isata's flowed easily. She imbued the dangling chords of Mendelssohn's Andante with a brooding elegance. She also beautifully balanced the cascading arpeggiations in the other piano-centric piece on Sunday's first half, Gabriel Fauré's urgent Cello Sonata No. 1. Even Francis Poulenc's frothy Cello Sonata, which featured at the end of the program, had surprising depth between the pert march of its first movement and the zany dance of its finale. The rapturous Cavatine that came between was a masterclass in the slow build, Isata's fingers here coaxing bottomless expression from the keys. None of these sonatas are much played, and all were welcome on this recital. But the real revelation among the evening's repertoire was a two-movement character piece written expressly for the Kanneh-Masons by 41-year-old British composer Natalie Klouda. There's plenty of rustling and rattling in Klouda's 'Tor Mordôn,' whose title is derived from the ancient languages of Great Britain and means 'sea mount of light.' The composition's extravagant landscapes swarm with dragons and frogs, the stuff of Antiguan and Welsh legends — a nod to the Kanneh-Masons' heritage. On Sunday, it all translated wonderfully into music. Over Isata's murmuring lines, Sheku's glissandos roiled. His icy harmonics sliced up and down the fingerboard; her harmonies hung in strange clouds. With luck, the Kanneh-Masons will lend 'Tor Mordôn' to other performers. But have no doubt about it, this is their piece.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘My son was cut out of BBC's Harry and Meghan wedding highlights because he is black'
A cellist who performed at the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's wedding was left out of the BBC's highlights package because he was black, his mother has claimed. Sheku Kanneh-Mason was chosen to perform at the 2018 ceremony, held at St George's Chapel, Windsor. His mother, Kadiatu, said she was dismayed to see that he was cut from the BBC highlights coverage, and was not featured in newspapers the next day. She suggested that the media did not know how to deal with a black cellist, as classical music was normally the preserve of white musicians. Speaking at the Hay Festival, in Wales, Mrs Kanneh-Mason said: 'When Sheku played at the royal wedding, that night he was not in any of the BBC highlights. So there was the choir, there was the preacher but he was left out as though he hadn't been there. 'The next morning, we looked through all the papers. He was not there. So they decided that he was going to be absent. And we thought, what's going on here? 'I think what it was: the gospel choir was doing what it was supposed to do. The preacher was doing what he was supposed to do. But a black cellist? A black cellist cancels itself out … he's not doing what he's supposed to be doing, he's not doing a black thing. That's really interesting, unpacking what the media thinks we're supposed to do.' Sheku, the first black winner of the BBC Young Musician competition, was chosen to perform at the wedding after the Duke saw him play at a charity event. He played three pieces of music at the ceremony. The wedding also featured gospel singers The Kingdom Choir, who performed Stand By Me, and American preacher Rt Rev Michael Curry, who was the first black presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church. His sermon, which centred on the redemptive power of love, was well-received and drew significant attention. The London-based choir, which features 30 singers and was formed in 1994, found fame after the wedding. They were regularly asked to perform and signed a record deal with Sony Music UK. Mrs Kanneh-Mason has written a book, To Be Young, Gifted and Black, about Sheku and his six musically gifted siblings, exploring 'issues of cultural, racial and national identity'. She said of Sheku entering the BBC Young Musician competition: 'I panicked because he had a massive afro at that point and I thought, 'If he goes on the stage with that… the judges are not going to believe he's a classical musician. Should we make him a bit more formal?' 'In the end, he went on as himself but we had to think about that: what the presentation was, what the image was. It's one of those things going on all the time.' Mrs Kanneh-Mason said that her daughter, Konya, a pianist, was racially abused by an audience member while a student at the Royal Academy of Music. She said a man came up to her daughter and said 'I think you played beautifully – I don't know, because I was looking at your body all the time. 'Then he said, 'You shouldn't be here, because you people are taking all the jobs from the white musicians who should be here'. And she looked around and thought, 'I am the only black musician, the only black person in this room, so whose job am I taking?'' Asked about her children suffering 'micro-aggressions', Mrs Kanneh-Mason said: 'They're called micro-aggressions but actually they're maxi-aggressions. They happen all the time. And having to navigate that on a daily basis is very difficult.' A BBC spokesman said: 'BBC News reported widely on Sheku Kanneh-Mason's role in the 2018 royal wedding including news that he was selected to play, multiple stories of how the day unfolded and on the impact of his performance.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
