Sheku Kanneh-Mason: “It will feel like a celebration of everything coming together”
What are you most looking forward to during the residency tour around Leicester, Bedford, Canterbury and Basingstoke this season as our Featured Artist, and what do you hope to achieve through it?
It’s really nice to be playing in all these regional cities, coming from Nottingham, I really remember how special it was to have the concert hall and being able to go and see visiting orchestras and soloists. From a performance point of view now, I really enjoy the sort of excitement and home-like atmosphere of these local venues and I’m so looking forward to playing in them all and touring with the wonderful Philharmonia Orchestra.
You’ve got the Beethoven Triple Concerto coming up with Nicola Benedetti and Benjamin Grosvenor in Basingstoke in June. Can you tell us a bit about how you prepare for this kind of work?
Yes, it’s really exciting to be coming together with Nicky and Benjamin for this. We are planning to have a couple of times getting together informally and reading some piano trios so that we feel happy and comfortable as a trio before coming together with the orchestra. The three of us doing this in advance will mean that when we meet again with the Orchestra, we can just feel that excitement and really enjoy working on such a joyful piece of music together.
Coming from a musical family such as yours, what effect has this had on your creativity and career?
I think it’s been great – growing up was very inspiring as I was always surrounded by the sound of my siblings practising and then of course, playing together enabled so much experimentation and musical development.
How has your approach to performing changed over time? Who or what influences you the most?
My teachers over the years have had a massive influence with my approach to practice and performing, and of course how I approach the music as well.
How do the three concertos you’re playing at these residencies (Bloch, Haydn, Beethoven) differ, and what do you enjoy about each?
They certainly differ! The Haydn is the only piece that I have performed up until now and so for the other two, it’s new territory for me. The Bloch in particular is such a symphonic work and so I’m looking forward to working with the Philharmonia and achieving all the colours required for it. I’m looking forward to playing both Haydn concertos, they are joyful pieces of music and full of character. The Beethoven concerto is such a celebratory piece of music and falls at the end of my season with the Orchestra and so it will feel like a celebration of everything coming together – a good conclusion.
