Sheku Kanneh-Mason Essentials

Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason has always shown a magnetic level of sophistication, even when he was a teen. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music and then went on to become the first black musician to win BBC’s Young Musician of the Year in 2016. Playing Elgar and Fauré with Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra, Kanneh-Mason finds a rich tone that expresses deep pathos, while his Shostakovich communicates the Russian composer’s transcendental melancholy. Proving his chops outside the classical canon and taking on Bob Marley, Kanneh-Mason turns out to have impressive versatility, unearthing something universal and almost Bach-like in the reggae singer’s melodies.