Debut Isata Kanneh-Mason

Isata Kanneh-Mason thinks the notion that classical music is not for young people is a misguided myth. “They simply need to hear this music, the younger the better,” she believes. The pianist herself was lucky enough to grow up in a family where music was omnipresent and all seven children learned to play an instrument. Sometimes it was quite loud at home, she admits. There were no fewer than four pianos in her parents’ house, which were often played at the same time. But the Kanneh-Mason children were ambitious, with the result that Isata and her younger brother Sheku are now international stars and will both perform at the 2024 Summer Festival. Isata, who was born in 1996, has received the Opus Klassik Award for Best Young Artist and the Leonard Bernstein Award; her CDs have reached the top of the charts. She will perform works by composers from Haydn to Gubaidulina. Highly virtuosic pieces such as Rachmaninoff’s piano transcription of Mendelssohn’s Scherzo from A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be included, and of course her chosen favorite composer Clara Schumann is on the agenda. Incidentally, Isata Kanneh-Mason herself will disclose what this is all about in the concert.