Program
Johan Sebastian Bach: Cello Suite No. 2 in D minor BWV1008
Gwilym Simcock: Prayer for the Senses
Benjamin Britten: Cello Suite No. 1 Op. 72
Intermission
Leo Brouwer: Sonata No. 2 for solo cello
Edmund Finnis: Preludes I-V
Gaspar Cassadó: Suite for solo cello
Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason’s career and performances span the globe. Whether performing for children in a school hall, at an underground club or in the world’s leading concert venues, Sheku’s mission is to make music accesible to all. After winning the BBC Young Musician competition in 2016, Sheku’s performance at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at Windsor Castle in 2018 was watched by two billion people worldwide. A Decca Classics recording artist, his 2022 album, Song, showcases his innately lyrical playing in a wide and varied range of arrangements and collaborations. Sheku’s 2020 album Elgar reached No. 8 in the overall Official UK Album Chart, making him the first ever cellist to reach the UK Top 10. Sheet music collections of his performance repertoire along with his own arrangements and compositions are published by Faber. Sheku is a graduate of London’s Royal Academy of Music where he studied with Hannah Roberts and in May 2022 was appointed as the Academy’s first Menuhin Visiting Professor of Performance Mentoring. He is an ambassador for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Future Talent, and Music Masters. Sheku was appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2020 New Year’s Honours List. He plays a Matteo Goffriller cello from 1700 which is on indefinite loan to him.
Sheku Kanneh-Mason appears by arrangement with Enticott Music Management