INTERVIEW
Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, the fifth of the celebrated seven musical siblings, was in her first term studying piano at the Royal College of Music [RCM] when a Covid lockdown struck in 2020. She found herself confined to her hall of residence bedsit with only an electric keyboard for company. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise.
‘I had just started at the RCM when I got an email from Chi-chi Nwanoku asking if I could play the Florence Price Concerto with the Chineke! Orchestra in a month’s time,’ Jeneba says. ‘A few days later someone in my halls got Covid, so I had to self-isolate in my room for two weeks, which was a bit of a nightmare.’ She was, however, able to spend the time committing this rare and special concerto to memory. A month later she was ready to perform it.
The concert took place at the Royal Festival Hall, if for an online audience. It was Jeneba’s debut at the venue, aged 18, broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and later released as a recording in Chineke!’s award-winning boxed set of the American composer’s long-neglected music. Pandemic aside, the latest Kanneh-Mason to head for the stars was on her way. ‘Price could have no more persuasive an advocate’, said The Guardian’s review.
‘I’m glad I decided to take up the challenge of learning it so quickly, because then I played it in the Proms the year after,’
