'They're the perfect couple': Harry and Meghan's wedding cellist wowed 1.9 billion people, then went home to study

You can feel how quickly Sheku Kanneh-Mason’s star is rising when he tells you that his days as a music student ended less than 24 hours ago. After performing a final recital for his advanced diploma at London’s Royal Academy of Music the night before, the 23-year-old British cellist was free to continue his stint as one of the hottest properties in classical music.

Credit:

Today, he’s sitting in a corner office at his record company headquarters in King’s Cross, ready to talk about a new album and an Australian tour. He was wearing black jeans and a Paul Smith monochrome shirt with a pattern that, on closer inspection, was made up of hundreds of tiny faces. The old British menswear statesman and young cellist are both Nottingham natives and have become close friends. Kanneh-Mason was wearing a Paul Smith suit when he appeared and has lent his photogenic face to one of the label’s advertising campaigns.

Even if you don’t recognize his name (pronounced Shey-koo, by the way), you’ve probably heard him play. Kanneh-Mason was handpicked by Meghan Markle to appear at her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry. Her appearance about Sicily by Maria Von Paradis, Apres un Rev by Faure dan Ave Maria by Schubert in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle viewed by 1.9 billion people worldwide.

The idea of ​​playing at a royal wedding with an audience larger than China’s population might make some pause for thought. Kanneh-Mason is not one of them. “I didn’t really notice the TV audience at the time,” he says in a voice soft enough to make you lean forward. “I was just messing with the people in the room.”

Did he survive after the ceremony; is there a king kneeling behind the palace? He smiled. “I didn’t stay long. London was really busy that day, so it took a long time to get home. But it was an exciting opportunity. They’re a great couple.”

The serenity he displays when describing the biggest show of his life is something of a recurring theme. Ask him about the pressures he faced in 2016 on his way to becoming the first black musician to win the BBC Young Musician of the Year award and he made the career development contest sound like a rafting weekend. “Hmm… I don’t know,” he said. “The competition was a very pleasant experience. I feel very supported by everyone working on it as well as other competitors. Of course it’s a competition and everyone wants to win – it’s not all fun and games – but it feels very … supportive.”

Is he nervous? After all, he said he wanted to find a cure for stage fright. “Mmm…for me, it’s not about being afraid of making mistakes,” he said. “It’s more about trying to convey everything to the highest level and in the most intense way possible. I’m not worried about playing the wrong notes, because things like that don’t worry me. I consider performance to be fun and enjoyable. The problem came from the concert feeling that I had said everything I wanted to say.”

“I wasn’t really aware of the TV audience at the time,” cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason said of his performance at the royal wedding.

His approach stems in part from his admiration for Jacqueline du Pre, another free-spirited English cellist who achieved fame at a young age. Kanneh-Mason watches videos of him playing over and over and still seeks inspiration from his work. He described his style as “the most direct, sincere, honest and creative way of playing I have ever seen”.

Load

“It’s very, very special. It felt like there was no barrier between what he was feeling and what was coming out of the cello. And what he feels is intense and creative. You can’t copy it and it’s not worth trying.”

His laid-back approach to performance extends to his pre-show routine; or rather the lack of one. You won’t find a pair of lucky shoes or other talismans in the Kanneh-Mason dressing room. “For me, no ritual helps because you can’t guarantee you’ll be able to follow it when you play in a lot of different places. Of course, I always have water and food. And I like to talk to people until a few minutes before starting – I get bored by myself.”

That last sentiment was easy to understand given his upbringing. Kanneh-Mason is the tallest member of an extraordinary clan of seven brothers (12 to 25 years old) who each play instruments of varying degrees of brilliance. Sheku is often accompanied on piano by his older sister, Isata, while violinist Braimah has interspersed the classics with world tours with British electronic band Clean Bandit. The Kanneh-Mason brothers traveled to Australia on a family tour, featuring works by Schubert, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Shostakovich and Gershwin.

Kanneh-Mason brothers with their parents; family members will perform in Australia in August.Credit:Jake Turney

Sheku, the third oldest Kanneh-Mason, often describes his close family as the “core” that keeps him emotionally grounded as he travels the world with increasing frequency. When I asked her if her celebrity had caused any jealousy among her siblings, she looked genuinely confused. “Oh no. It’s never been that way. They all have their thing and we’re all still learning from each other.”

Kanneh-Mason entered the public consciousness in 2015 when the six oldest brothers and sisters performed at England Has Talent. Simon Cowell, who is not well-known as a fan of classical music, said, “It’s good to see you happy, because a lot of people are quite sad when they play this kind of music.” Luckily, he also referred to his siblings as “the most talented family of musicians in the world” and they advanced to the semi-finals.

In his memoirs House of Music: Raising Kanneh-MasonSheku’s mother, Kadiatu, remembers how her children chose Emperor by Italian composer Vittorio Monti deemed “too classic” by the show’s producers. The siblings prepare a medley of more delicious classics in their place. But after rejecting the proposal to play pop music on a matching white instrument, they BGT the “journey” ends.

“We knew what the show was and thought ‘fair enough,’” Sheku said. “It was a pleasant experience. And useful in the sense of appearing on live TV.”

That, in hindsight, was also a strong show for a very talented group of black musicians in a genre in which they were so under-represented. A 2013 survey by the British Arts Council found only 5 per cent of professional classical musicians working in the UK identified as Black and Minority Ethnic. More recent studies have revealed a significant lack of representation among composers and music institute boards. (While it is difficult to find exact figures in Australia, a series of recent reports have highlighted inequalities in leadership positions and funding opportunities.)

Kanneh-Mason, who dedicated Leonard Cohen’s song. June 2020 version hallelujah to families who were targeted by racism after the murder of George Floyd, understanding implicitly their role as black role models and agents of change. “Of course there is an expectation of what classical musicians will be like based on what has happened,” he said. “I think it’s problematic. Personally, I’ve always had good people around me, and I was able to stay focused, but I knew that being a black classical musician wasn’t something everyone would be comfortable with.”

Load

He had a clear idea why there were so few black musicians in British concert halls. “I think it’s a combination of factors and some of the biggest ones are education and opportunity. They are really very short at the moment. Almost impossible if you don’t have a lot of spare cash to pay for lessons and instruments. Until that change happens, I think it’s very difficult to see any significant change happening.”

The high cost of training and nurturing professional musicians is something Kanneh-Mason experiences firsthand. Kadiatu’s book paints a picture of a family struggling and often failing to get lessons and tools; a family exhausted from the long journey to the recital in an unreliable vehicle. Kanneh-Mason, who started playing the cello at the age of six on a rented quarter-sized instrument, knew he was very lucky. He recently took delivery of a Matteo Gofriller cello made in 1700 that was purchased for his exclusive use by a syndicate of anonymous investors for a seven-figure price.

TAKE 7: Answer by Shaku Kanneh-Mason

1. Worst habit? Biting my nails.
2. Biggest fear? Small holes (this condition is called Trypophobia).
3. The line that has stayed with you? There’s a Bob Marley song called Chances are and those two words always stay with me.
4. Biggest regret? I feel as if I don’t really have it yet.
5. Favorite room? A bedroom.
6. The artwork/song you want is yours? Cello sonata by Frank Bridge.
7. If you can solve one thing? Find a way to overcome stage fright.

He became excited when describing the noble instrument. “It’s very rich and has a very strong core sound. Even at the high register, there is strong support for his voice – never thin or strained.”

Kanneh-Mason plays Gofriller on his latest album, Song. An eclectic collection of works ranging from the Welsh folk song Myfanwy – a reminder of time spent with his Welsh grandmother – to Massenet’s Elegie for Soprano, the jazz blues ballad Cry Me A River and Same Boat, an original song co-written with English singer-songwriter Zak Abel. At first glance it looks like an album designed to extend its appeal beyond traditional classical audiences.

“I thought there might be something for a wider audience, but basically it’s a selection of things that I think about and enjoy and have shaped who I am today,” he said. “That’s a very personal choice.”

I asked him if there was a repertoire he wasn’t ready to tackle. What’s the cellist equivalent of Hamlet, for example? “I thought it might be Bach’s cello suite,” he said. “I have studied it, but did not do it. It’s not that I don’t feel ready to show it, I just don’t want to. I’ve learned a lot from playing them for myself and when I feel I have something I want to say with them, I will. I’m not afraid of them. Of course they’re huge chunks, but they’re also very human and there’s a whole world of emotion in there – joy, humor, darkness, and tragedy. As soon as you become afraid of music, you lose all of it.”

Sheku Kanneh-Mason performed at MSO’s mid-season gala, Hamer Hall, on July 30 and is speaking with MSO chief conductor Jaime Martin at the Iwaki Auditorium on July 27. The Kanneh-Masons perform in Perth on 4 August, Sydney on 9 and 11 August, Brisbane on 18 August and Arts Center Melbourne on 20 August.

A cultural guide to going out and loving your city. Sign up for our Fix Culture newsletter here.

#Theyre #perfect #couple #Harry #Meghans #wedding #cellist #wowed #billion #people #home #study