Sheku Kanneh-Mason is tuned into education and opportunity | Music - Big Issue

The royal wedding cellist tells The Big Issue how opening youngsters' minds to classic musical in state schools like the one he attended can pave the way for success, explains Sarah Reid, Production Journalist.

Photo: Big Issue

It’s easy to think of Sheku Kanneh-Mason as the teenage cellist who knocked the wind out of billions of people watching his performance at Meghan and Harry’s wedding. But by that point in 2018, he’d already chalked up a remarkable list of achievements. He was six when he first lifted a cello. At 16 he was named 2016’s BBC Young Musician of the Year – the first black musician to take the title in the competition’s history. Now he’s kicking off 2020 with an album recorded alongside his hero Sir Simon Rattle. With his background as a state-educated kid from Nottingham Kanneh-Mason, who is still only 20, knows that even a talent like his could have gone undiscovered. He’s dismayed that other kids who lack funds or an early exposure to classical music will be lost. He explains why opportunity and education are paramount and how even he is still learning...

Royal wedding cellist: Teenaged musician Sheku Kanneh-Mason wows guests 


Selling classical to youngsters
The younger the kids are, the more open-minded they are – but I think classical music can definitely speak to anyone who has a good opportunity to properly listen to it. The more you understand, the more you get from it. That’s not to say that you have to be an expert on classical music to enjoy it, it means there’s just so much in the music. With understanding it can be even more special. 
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Source: Big Issue and CBC News Channel (YouTube)