Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason,17, became the BBC Young Musician of the Year in May when he wowed the judges with his account of the Shostakovich cello concerto number 1. Susan Elkin talks to him.
What made you take up the cello? I was six. I was already learning piano and violin. The piano was fine but I really didn’t like the violin. Then I went to an orchestral concert where I saw and heard cellos. I knew immediately that was what I wanted to play. So I started lessons and took to it very quickly because I passed my Grade 8 when I was 9.
Tell me about your family I’m the third of seven. My elder brother is at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London studying piano, along with my sister who’s a violinist. My younger four siblings all play instruments well too. Our parents are very musical and played instruments in childhood but they are no longer musicians. They have obviously encouraged us all tremendously.
You must do an enormous amount of practice? Yes, it was about half an hour a day when I was little and just starting. Then it gradually built up. Now I do three hours – and more when I was preparing for the competition. It has to come before anything else, but I’m pretty good at time management so I can make it work. I love the cello so much that it’s all fine anyway.
How does school fit into all this? I’m at Trinity Catholic School in Nottingham which is a state comprehensive. I’ve just done my AS levels and will take music, physics and maths at A level next year. I do my practice after school because I’m not very good in the mornings. That means that I often do my homework on the train. Perhaps I shouldn’t but it seems to be OK and I need to keep my practice time intact.
You’re also training at Junior RAM aren’t you? Yes, I’m in London for that on Saturdays. I have a scholarship. And there’s a new orchestra, formed of pre-vocational RAM players. It’s called the Fantasia Orchestra and we did a concert at a church in Notting Hill in July playing works by Tchaikovsky, Delius and Vaughan Williams.
Why did you choose the Shostakovich concerto for the competition? I just adore Shostakovich’s music and this concerto in particular. Guy Johnston famously won BBC Young Musician of the Year with it in 2000. I first met Guy when I was about 8. He’s an RAM professor now. I emailed him when I was working towards the competition. He invited me to play it through to him – twice – and gave me lots of really helpful advice which was very good of him.
Do you play much with your siblings? Yes. When I do recitals it’s usually with my elder brother accompanying and we often do trios with my sister too. And sometimes I work with the others. It’s so useful to be able to rehearse at home and because we know each other so well communication is very easy. We don’t have to waste time spelling things out.
Do you have time for other interests? Yes, I play football and although I broke my wrist a few years ago (not good for a musician!) even that didn’t put me off. I also like to go out with my friends – the ones I’m at school with in Nottingham are not musicians, although I have another set in London who are. I had a great time on a school trip to Lourdes in July. Although I often take my cello on holiday with me, there was no room for it on the coach this time so it was a complete break.
What comes next? I now have an agent and there are quite a few concerto and recital engagements booked in over the next year or two. And after A levels I definitely want to go on to conservatoire training – at RAM or somewhere similar.