Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason: Obsession is a driver

Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason: Obsession is a driver

John Wilson speaks to British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason about his obsession with music, adjusting to fame and how he’s faced racist abuse.

While still a student, he performed to an audience of more than one billion people at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, instantly becoming one of the most recognisable classical performers in the world.

Now, still just 26 years old, he explains the unique joy of performing with his family. Kanneh-Mason is one of seven siblings, all are talented musicians and regularly play together.

Of Antiguan decent, he was the first black person to win BBC Young Musician of the Year. He’s also used his profile to join calls for dropping ‘Rule, Britannia!’ from the Last Night of the Proms, explaining how difficult it is for someone whose ancestors were enslaved to hear imperial songs sung with such determination.

Thank you to the This Cultural Life team for helping to make this programme. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service, Mondays and Wednesdays at 0700 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out twice a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: John Wilson Producers: Alex Loftus, Ben Cooper and Edwina Pittman Editor: Nick Holland

Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.

(Image: Sheku Kanneh-Mason. Photo by Ian West - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Episoder(1818)

Danica Roem: America's culture wars

Danica Roem: America's culture wars

Stephen Sackur is in Washington DC to speak to America’s first transgender state lawmaker, Danica Roem. She overcame long odds to win a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates. Now she’s a powerful voice in the US culture wars. From trans rights to abortion, are progressives or conservatives in the ascendant?

29 Mai 202222min

Luis Lacalle Pou: Why is Uruguay moving to the right?

Luis Lacalle Pou: Why is Uruguay moving to the right?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Uruguay’s President Luis Lacalle Pou. He’s a conservative advocate of free market economics and tougher crackdowns on crime. Why is Uruguay going right when so much of Latin America is currently trending to the left?

26 Mai 202222min

Jens Stoltenberg: Is Nato being undermined by internal divisions?

Jens Stoltenberg: Is Nato being undermined by internal divisions?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. He claims the West’s military alliance has been steadfast in support of Ukraine since Russian President Putin’s invasion. But in Kyiv, there is increasing frustration. Is Nato being undermined by internal divisions?

24 Mai 202222min

Iván Duque: Has Colombia's president failed?

Iván Duque: Has Colombia's president failed?

Stephen Sackur speaks to the President of Colombia, Iván Duque. His term is coming to an end with the country’s biggest problems unresolved: mass poverty, inequality and alarming levels of violence. Does the Duque Presidency signal the conclusive failure of Colombia’s ruling elite?

22 Mai 202223min

Franklin Graham: An era of moral decline?

Franklin Graham: An era of moral decline?

Stephen Sackur speaks to evangelist Franklin Graham, who has followed in his father Billy’s footsteps and become one of the biggest Christian preachers in America. In the intensifying culture war over abortion and LGBTQ rights in the US, have the evangelists and the Republicans joined forces?

20 Mai 202223min

Stella Moris: Will Julian Assange be extradited to the US?

Stella Moris: Will Julian Assange be extradited to the US?

Stephen Sackur speaks to lawyer Stella Moris, wife of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and mother of two of his children. The British government is about to decide whether to extradite him to the United States to face espionage charges. With his fate on the line, why is Assange such a polarising figure?

17 Mai 202223min

Inger Ashing: Is the war in Ukraine overshadowing other crises?

Inger Ashing: Is the war in Ukraine overshadowing other crises?

Zeinab Badawi speaks to Inger Ashing, CEO of the charity Save the Children International. What is her organisation doing in Ukraine, and is the war with Russia taking the focus off other global hotspots, leaving millions of children in peril?

16 Mai 202223min

Victoria Spartz: Does her party  share her commitment to defeating Putin?

Victoria Spartz: Does her party share her commitment to defeating Putin?

Stephen Sackur is in Washington to speak to the Ukrainian born Republican Congresswoman Victoria Spartz. She is an ardent advocate of US support for Kyiv in the war with Russia. Does her party and in particular Donald Trump, share her commitment to defeating Putin?(Photo: Victoria Spartz, Republican Congresswoman)

13 Mai 202222min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
aftenpodden-usa
bt-dokumentar-2
forklart
popradet
stopp-verden
nokon-ma-ga
fotballpodden-2
dine-penger-pengeradet
det-store-bildet
aftenbla-bla
frokostshowet-pa-p5
e24-podden
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
rss-dannet-uten-piano
rss-ness
rss-fredrik-og-zahid-loser-ingenting
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
unitedno