photo Mark Allen
This concert is part of a European summer tour which will also visit Snape Maltings, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and the Lucerne Festival. Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Kevin John Edusie renew their partnership which began in 2017 when conductor, soloist and orchestra made their BBC Proms debut together. This tour features Sheku as soloist in Shostakovich's 2nd Cello Concerto performed alongside Brian's Nabors Pulse which is, in the composer's words, a contemplation of daily life as we know it, combined with thoughts of life in nature, and the programme ends with the first performance in Helsinki of William Dawson's African-American Folk Symphony which was first performed in 1934 by the Philadelphia Orchestra and Leopold Stokowski and then revised in 1952 incorporating a rhythmic foundation inspired by the composer's journey to West Africa.
Soloist with the British Chineke! Orchestra cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason reinvigorates our views of classical music. On his first album, Shostakovich met Bob Marley, and his second reached the top ten in the British charts. When Kanneh-Mason serenaded Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at their wedding, there were two billion TV viewers.
Among classical music enthusiasts, the cellist is best known for his outstanding talent. Kanneh-Mason won the 2016 BBC Young Musician award and has since toured the world’s best concert venues from Carnegie Hall in New York to Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
At the Helsinki Music Centre, Kanneh-Mason will perform with the Chineke! Orchestra. Contrabassist Chi-Chi Nwanoku founded the orchestra in 2015 in response to having been the only black musician in any of the orchestras she had played in over her 35-year career.
The concert at the Helsinki Festival will challenge ancient assumptions about classical musicians and composers and exceed even the loftiest expectations of the quality of music being performed.
Programme:
Brian Nabors Pulse
Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 2
William Dawson African-American Folk Symphony
Kevin John Edusei, conductor & Sheku Kanneh-Mason, cello