Sheku Kanneh-Mason was born on 4 April 1999 and is a British cellist who won the 2016 BBC Young Musician award.
24 Facts About Sheku Kanneh-Mason
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Sheku Kanneh-Mason was the first black musician to win the competition since its launch in 1978.
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Sheku Kanneh-Mason played at the wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle on 19 May, 2018 under the direction of Christopher Warren-Green.
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Sheku Kanneh-Mason was born to Stuart Mason, from London, a luxury hotel business manager of Antiguan descent, and Dr Kadiatu Kanneh, from Sierra Leone, a former lecturer at the University of Birmingham and author of the 2020 book House of Music: Raising the Kanneh-Masons.
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Sheku Kanneh-Mason then switched from violin to cello and went on to take part in Music for Everyone's Stringwise courses, impressing their conductors with his ability to play everything from memory.
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Sheku Kanneh-Mason received his non-specialist education as a pupil at the Trinity School, Nottingham, where he studied for A levels in Music, Maths and Physics.
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Sheku Kanneh-Mason later became a student of Hannah Roberts at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
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Sheku Kanneh-Mason has cited cellists Jacqueline du Pre and Mstislav Rostropovich as his "musical heroes", alongside Bob Marley.
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In June 2016, Sheku Kanneh-Mason signed a deal for worldwide general management with the London-based boutique agency Enticott Music Management, and went on to sign a major recording contract with the classical music label Decca Classics in November 2016.
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The record deal was signed on board a Nottingham City Transport bus which the local authority had named in his honour after Sheku Kanneh-Mason won the BBC Young Musician contest.
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In November 2016, Sheku Kanneh-Mason was the subject of a BBC Four documentary entitled Young, Gifted and Classical: The Making of a Maestro.
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Sheku Kanneh-Mason performed at the 2017 British Academy Film Awards held in London's Royal Albert Hall.
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On 19 May 2018, Sheku Kanneh-Mason performed as part of the musical selections for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
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On 26 May 2022, the Royal Academy of Music announced that Sheku Kanneh-Mason had been appointed as its first Menuhin Visiting Professor of Performance Mentoring.
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On 9 September 2023, Sheku Kanneh-Mason was the instrumental soloist at the Last Night of the Proms, performing alongside soprano Lise Davidsen, and conducted by Marin Alsop.
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Sheku Kanneh-Mason has lent his support to the organisation Black Lives in Music.
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Sheku Kanneh-Mason was the winner of the 2016 BBC Young Musician competition, following which his home town of Nottingham named a bus in his honour.
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Sheku Kanneh-Mason was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to music.
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In March 2020, Sheku Kanneh-Mason won the public vote for Best Classical Artist at the Global Awards.
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Sheku Kanneh-Mason released his debut EP in February 2017 to coincide with his performance at the BAFTAs.
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Sheku Kanneh-Mason performed this arrangement at the BAFTAs in February 2017.
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Sheku Kanneh-Mason appears as a guest artist on the album Tecchler's Cello: from Cambridge to Rome by cellist and fellow BBC Young Musician winner Guy Johnston, released in September 2017.
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Sheku Kanneh-Mason was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 12.
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Sheku Kanneh-Mason is an ambassador for the charities Music Masters and Future Talent.