大象传媒

Anyone who saw Sheku Kanneh-Mason play the cello at the Royal Wedding, or win 大象传媒 Young Musician of the Year at the age of only 17, will realise that he comes from the most extraordinary family. Two of his siblings are also Young Musician finalists, and his older sister, Isata, is a professional pianist. Collectively the seven Kanneh-Mason children make music wherever they are. During lockdown, that was the family home in Nottingham, from which they performed live on Facebook.

Michael Berkeley鈥檚 guest is their mother, Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason: the woman who inspires them, who gets up before dawn to drive them to lessons and trains, who organises their practice schedules, who dances with them in the kitchen. She tells Michael Berkeley about how she does it 鈥� and why. She looks back on her childhood in Sierra Leone, and the huge transition of coming to live with her grandparents in Wales after her father died. She reveals her own musical ambition 鈥� to play the violin 鈥� and discusses how she manages to get the children to practise. She explores with Michael the question of prejudice in the classical music world. And she plays the reggae song the family will be dancing to at Christmas.

Other choices include Verdi鈥檚 鈥淐horus of the Hebrew Slaves鈥�, Shostakovich鈥檚 Second Piano Trio, Mozart鈥檚 Requiem, Schubert鈥檚 Trout Quintet and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor鈥檚 鈥淒eep River鈥�.

A Loftus Media production for 大象传媒 Radio 3
Produced by Elizabeth Burke