Isata Kanneh-Mason (born May 1996) is a British

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

. She is the sister of and frequent collaborator with cellist

Sheku Kanneh-Mason Sheku Kanneh-Mason (born 4 April 1999) is a British cellist who won the 2016 BBC Young Musician award. He was the first Black musician to win the competition since its launch in 1978. He played at the wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle ...

Early life and education

Kanneh-Mason grew up in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

, England. She is the first child of Stuart Mason, from London, a luxury hotel business manager of Antiguan descent, and Dr. Kadiatu Kanneh, from

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

, a former lecturer at the

University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

and author of the 2020 book ''House of Music: Raising the Kanneh-Masons''. Isata attended the Purcell School, before earning a place to study at the Royal Academy of Music on the prestigious Sir Elton John Scholarship. She later performed with the rock star himself in Los Angeles in 2013.

Career

Isata was an ECHO Rising Star in 21/22 performing in many of Europe’s finest halls and she is also the recipient of the coveted Leonard Bernstein Award, an Opus Klassik award for best young artist and is one of the Konzerthaus Dortmund’s Junge Wilde artists Kanneh-Mason made her solo debut at the BBC Proms in 2023, playing Piano Concerto #3 with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Kanneh-Mason records for Decca Records. * ''Romance: The Piano Music of Clara Schumann'' (2019), List of Classical Artist Albums Chart number ones of the 2010s, Classical Artist Albums Chart number one, 18 July 2019 * ''Summertime'' (2021) * ''Muse'' (with

) (2021), Classical Artist Albums Chart number one,12 November 2021 * ''Childhood Tales'' (2023)

References

External links

* 1996 births Living people British pianists Musicians from Nottingham {{improve categories, date=July 2023