“Brother and sister Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason have … garnered millions of fans around the world,” writes Anastasia Tsioulcas in Thursday’s (11/11) National Public Radio. “Pianist Isata, age 25, and her younger brother Sheku, a 22-year-old cellist, are two of seven musical siblings who grew up in a family of modest means in central England. The Kanneh-Masons first gained public traction when six of them made it to the semi-finals of Britain’s Got Talent back in 2015…. Sheku [won] the BBC Young Musician award [in 2016] at age 16…. Both Isata and Sheku acknowledge the importance of representation…. ‘We always feel so happy when there are more young people, and more Black people in our audiences,’ Isata says.… ‘Our parents, when we were growing up, … were very keen on showing us role models, Black role models … Bob Marley, for example, … had a massive impact on us,’ Sheku says…. This week, Sheku is soloing with the New York Philharmonic. In May, they’ll be returning together to New York for a recital at Carnegie Hall: standard-bearers for a new vision of what classical music is, and who it belongs to.”
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