I’m not a classical music expert but was blown away by the performance of 17 year-old Sheku Kanneh-Mason, which saw him being crowned the BBC Young Musician of the 2016.
The competition took place in May, but I’d not heard about Sheku until I was a guest contributor on Dual Magazine as part of the Africa Utopia festival. So as you can guess, I did a little digging….
The BBC young musician competition is said to be one of the most high-profile competitions for amateur musicians. Sheku, from Nottingham UK was one of three finalists who performed live with BBC Symphony Orchestra, and also plays with the Chineke! Orchestra – Britain’s all black and minority ethnic orchestra.
Sheku won after playing Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1.
The ecstatic teenager told the BBC, “I’m so grateful for all the support from my family, the Junior Royal Academy of Music, my teacher Ben Davies and Chineke! that have helped me on this extraordinary journey.”
Watch Sheku’s winning performance below.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04439dk/player
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