Main content

Sheku Kanneh-Mason, cellist

Sheku Kanneh-Mason, cellist, shares the eight tracks, book and luxury item he would take with him if cast away to a desert island. With Lauren Laverne.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason is a cellist who came to international attention when he performed at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018. Still only 24, he has performed at a series of high profile locations including the Hollywood Bowl and Downing Street. Last year he was a soloist at the Last Night of the Proms.

Sheku was brought up in Nottingham along with his six siblings who are also extremely talented musicians. At six-years-old he went to a concert by the Nottingham Youth Orchestra where he was transfixed by the cello section. He started having lessons not long afterwards and by the age of nine he’d completed all of his music grades – receiving the highest marks in the country. At 17 he won the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Young Musician of the Year competition.

He went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music and made his debut at the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Proms as a soloist with the Chineke! Orchestra in 2017.

In 2020 he was appointed an MBE for services to music and two years later became the Royal Academy of Music’s first Menuhin Visiting Professor of Performance Mentoring.

DISC ONE: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op.85 - 1st movement: Adagio – Moderato. Composed by Edward Elgar and performed by Jacqueline du Pré, with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir John Barbirolli
DISC TWO: Rivers of Babylon -The Melodians
DISC THREE: Dat - Pluto Shervington
DISC FOUR: String Quartet in C major, Op 20 No. 2, Capriccio: Adagio. Composed by Joseph Haydn and performed by The London Haydn Quartet
DISC FIVE: Chances Are - Bob Marley
DISC SIX: Requiem in D minor, K. 626 , Introitus 1 – Requiem. Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and performed by the Monteverdi Choir
DISC SEVEN: Symphony No.11 'The Year 1905' - II. The 9th January; Adagio. Composed by Dmitri Shostakovich and performed by The Moscow Philharmonic, conducted by Kirill Kondrashin
DISC EIGHT: Largo from Organ Sonata No.5 in C major, BWV 529. Composed by Johan Sebastian Bach and performed by Samuel Feinberg

Book: The Feynman Lectures on Physics by Richard Feynman
Luxury: A cello and strings
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Requiem in D minor, K. 626 , Introitus 1 – Requiem. Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and performed by the Monteverdi Choir

Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Paula McGinley

Available now

38 minutes

Last on

Fri 26 Jan 2024 09:00
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

More episodes

Previous

Guli Francis-Dehqani, Church of England Bishop

Next

Jamie Dornan, actor

See all episodes from Desert Island Discs

Music Played

  • Edward Elgar

    Cello Concerto in E minor (Op.85) 1st Movement, Allegro - moderato

    Performer: Jacqueline du PrΓ©. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: John Barbirolli.
    • Elgar: Cello Concerto, Op. 85 & Sea Pictures, Op. 37.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 1.

  • The Melodians

    Rivers of Babylon

    • Reggae: The Very Best.
    • World Rhythm.
    • 14.

  • Pluto Shervington

    Dat

    • Best of Pluto Shervington.
    • K&K Records.
    • 11.

  • Joseph Haydn

    String Quartet in C major, Op 20 No. 2, Capriccio: Adagio

    Performer: London Haydn Quartet.
    • String Quartet in C major, Op 20 No 2.
    • Hyperion.
    • 6.

  • Bob Marley

    Chances Are

    • Natural Mystic.
    • Pegasus Entertainment.
    • 8.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Requiem in D minor, K. 626 , Introitus 1 - Requiem

    Choir: Monteverdi Choir. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.

  • Dmitry Shostakovich

    Symphony No.11 'The Year 1905' - II. The 9th January; Adagio

    Orchestra: Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Kirill Kondrashin.
    • Symphony 11 (1905).

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Largo from Organ Sonata No.5 in C major, BWV 529

    Performer: Samuil Feinberg.
    • The Art of Samuel Feinberg, Vol. III: J.S. Bach, Works for Clavier and Organ.
    • Classical Records.
    • 1.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 21 Jan 2024 11:15
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
  • Fri 26 Jan 2024 09:00
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

The Desert Island Discs podcast

The Desert Island Discs podcast

Subscribe or download individual episodes.

Listen to over 2,000 programmes

Click above to browse castaways, from 1942 to today.

Articles

Read the surprising things we've learned about some stand-out castaways.

Podcast