The musical journey of royal wedding cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason

The extraordinary career of cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, beyond performing at the royal wedding Tue 21 Jul 2026 at 4:30am Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, 27, gained international fame when he performed at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. But that's not his only achievement. In 2016, he became the first Black musician to win the BBC Young Musician competition, and has had a rich international career as both a soloist and performing with his family. Kanneh-Mason is the third of seven siblings in a musical family from Nottingham, England. His sister, Isata Kanneh-Mason, is one of the world's most sought-after pianists. The Kanneh-Mason family made their Australian debut tour in 2022, and now Sheku Kanneh-Mason is returning to Australia to perform Elgar's Cello Concerto with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra with conductor Simone Young. He will also perform a new cello concerto by British composer Edmund Finnis, written especially for him. Ahead of the tour, Kanneh-Mason joins Vanessa Hughes on ABC Classic Drive to talk about the cello, his favourite music, and whether he thinks his younger siblings, some of whom are still at school, might one day outshine him. What's so great about the cello is … How well it sits in lots of different contexts. The cello is such a great instrument at singing, at supporting, at speaking, at dancing, and at playing bass lines. A lot of my upbringing was exploring different realms of the cello. I spent a lot of time with chamber music, particularly string quartets and sonatas with piano pieces. And I learnt the solo cello repertoire and brilliant cello concertos, as well as the absolute thrill of playing the bass line in cello sections in symphony orchestras. I play the Bach's Cello Suites every day because … It's a really great study in cello playing and music making as well as being a wonderful, lifelong companion. It's a challenge every time, But there's lots of room for exploration, both technically and emotionally. The Sarabande, especially, is particularly challenging for solo cello because playing three lines at once is not really possible. Intonation is one of the big difficulties in playing a stringed instrument in general, particularly in these Bach suites. That's also a constant thing that one can just chip away at on a daily basis. The role of classical music in the lives of young people is … When we're looking at classical music, we're looking at music that's often written in the past. So, we're being historians in the sense of really understanding stories that have happened before we were around. That teaches us how to empathise with different characters that come out in these pieces of music as well as the characters that were writing these pieces of music. The music is full of absolute wonder and beauty, and to be able to spend time exploring that, I think is some of the best medicine. My most formative musical memory is … Listening to Rachmaninov's Second Symphony, which is a brilliant piece. I remember the first time I heard it. The National Youth Orchestra of the UK were rehearsing the symphony in Nottingham, which is the city I grew up in. I was 14 years old and I went to go and watch them rehearse because they allowed a few students from my school to be there. I came in and they were playing the second movement of this symphony. I got to watch what all of the individual sections of the orchestra were doing with great enthusiasm and character and that experience really stayed with me a long time. I've heard this symphony lots of times in full in concert and in recordings. Winning the BBC Young Musicians competition changed my life … Because of that win, I was able to have quite a regular performing schedule from the age of 17. The experience of performing recitals and concertos regularly is one that has taught me a lot. I was grateful that before the young musician competition, I had two brilliant teachers who set me up to be able to take on those challenges. And I've grown a lot in the 10 years since I won that award. In the next 10 years, I want to … Commission new music for my instrument from brilliant composers of today. It's important that people are writing music in the context of the times we're living in, telling stories that are of interest. Teaching is something I really enjoy and have been doing over the past few years and would love to do more. Sharing a lot of the amazing lessons that I had as a child and things that I've discovered as a performing musician with the next generation is a really important process for me. The new Cello Concerto by Edmund Finnis is … The first orchestral piece that he's written for me. Edmund Finnis is a British composer and someone I've worked with a lot over the past few years. Probably about four or five years ago, when he'd just written some solo preludes for me, I asked if he would consider writing a cello concerto. And because we know each other very well and have a nice understanding as musicians, I had a lot of trust in him just writing something that I would enjoy playing. The result is a cello concerto that's full of deep, rich and soulful quality. It's a very beautiful piece of music and I'm glad to be making this Australian premiere of a piece that hopefully will have a long life. It's been four years since I was last in Australia … I'm looking forward to coming back and visiting some of the places that I saw the first time I was there. I love trees, and there's a great botanical gardens in Sydney that has some of the most extraordinary trees that I had not seen before or since. I can imagine spending a lot of time there walking around with a book. My advice for young musicians who are competing for awards is … Use the competition as a chance to challenge oneself and prepare a repertoire to the highest possible level. But in the moment of performance, just share what you think and feel about the music rather than making comparisons with other people. As soon as you're comparing how you're playing to someone else, it takes away your individual relationship with the music. I'd love my younger siblings to be better than me … It's nice to have siblings who are doing the same thing and being able to share in that experience. We have individual personalities and they come out in the way that we play, which is what distinguishes us. We support each other a lot, and I love seeing them flourish and grow. This interview has been edited for clarity. Sheku Kanneh-Mason tours Australia in July and August, performing with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra July 30—August 1, before appearing with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra on August 6 and 8. ABC Classic will broadcast the Melbourne concert later in 2026.