The BBC Young Musician 2016, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, performs at Leeds Town Hall on Saturday 17 February with the European Union Chamber Orchestra under director Hans-Peter Hofmann. Music by great Germanic composers Haydn, Handel and Mozart is performed in this concert with a piece by Yorkshire-born composer Delius.
The concert opens with Handel’s Water Music Suite. The piece was written for King George I and a live performance on the River Thames. The music contains some of the most popular instrumental music ever written. Sheku Kanneh-Mason then performs Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C. The original score was considered lost until 1961, when it was found in the Prague National Museum. The opening movement is a virtuosic display of flourishing cello writing. Delius dictated a large number of his late works to budding Yorkshire musician Eric Fenby due to his personal health. Two Aquarelles are two songs arranged for string orchestra that are pure, consoling and caressing in musical style. Delius loved the fragility of the natural world and aspired to show this through his music. The concert closes with Symphony No 29 by Mozart. One of the composer’s later works, it combines intimate chamber style with a fiery and impulsive musical manner.
At the age of nine, Sheku Kanneh-Mason passed his Grade 8 cello examination with one of the highest marks in the UK. He has won the Marguerite Swan Memorial Prize and has also won an ABRSM junior scholarship to join the Junior Academy of the Royal Academy of Music, where he is tutored by Ben Davies. Sheku and his siblings were competitors on the television show Britain’s Got Talent in 2015 and in 2016 Sheku won the BBC Young Musician of the Year award. Sheku is a member of the Chineke! Orchestra, which was founded by Chi-chi Nwanoku for black and minority ethnic classical musicians. Sheku’s sister Isata and brother Braimah are also members. Most recently, Sheku has donated £3,000 to his former secondary school so ten pupils can continue their cello lessons.
Tickets are available from the City Centre Box Office on 0113 376 031
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