Sheku Kanneh-Mason & Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam

Sheku Kanneh-Mason is a British cellist, born in Nottingham in 1999, who won BBC Young Musician in 2016. His recordings include the albums Inspiration, Elgar and Song, spanning major cello repertoire and arrangements of vocal music. In 2017, he made his BBC Proms debut at the Royal Albert Hall, performing Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto with the Chineke! Orchestra. The following year, he played at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in St George’s Chapel, Windsor. His concert work includes orchestral performances, solo recitals and chamber programmes. He has also appeared in recital with his pianist sister, Isata Kanneh-Mason.

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is a Dutch symphony orchestra founded in Amsterdam in 1888. Its musical identity is closely tied to Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss: both composers conducted the ensemble, and Strauss dedicated Ein Heldenleben to Willem Mengelberg and the orchestra. Its recorded legacy also includes major Bruckner and Mahler cycles under Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Chailly and Mariss Jansons. The orchestra gave its first concert at the Concertgebouw in 1888 under Willem Kes. Mengelberg later led the 1920 Mahler Festival, which surveyed the composer’s music, and in 1975 the ensemble began its annual Christmas Matinee. International tours have repeatedly brought the orchestra to New York’s Carnegie Hall and the Berliner Philharmonie in Berlin.