Rising star Braimah Kanneh-Mason on his career so far, creating change and what pushes him to pick up the violin.

Braimah Kanneh-Mason has had a busy few years. Known for his impressive musicianship and humility of his playing, he has collaborated with the likes of Nicolo Benedetti, Chineke! and Clean Bandit, while soaring to new heights as a solo musician. Ahead of his upcoming performance at St George’s on Thu 20 Nov—when he will be joined by the deeply sensitive pianist Jâms Coleman—we sat down with Braimah to find out more about his career so far, creating change and what pushes him to pick up the violin. 

At what age did you first realise your love for the violin and what first sparked your passion for classical music?

I first picked up the violin when I was 7—I’d been playing the piano for about a year at that point. I think the initial reason was that I saw my sister playing the violin. I remember seeing her through the door of the living room—hearing the sound and seeing the instrument—and I realised that I wanted to play that.

As a busy solo musician who collaborates with many of the world’s other finest musicians and ensembles, what has been the highlight of your career so far?

I think what I’m most grateful and excited for is the relationship my family and I have with the Antigua and Barbuda Symphony Youth Orchestra. It’s a project we’ve been involved in since 2017. My grandparents on my dad’s side are from Antigua, so whenever we go to teach, mentor and perform in the orchestra, it feels particularly special. I also think that the most rewarding thing as a musician is when you feel like what you’re doing is making some kind of change. When you perform, you have your relationship with the music, and maybe audience members will come and tell you how they feel but I think in Antigua it really feels like it’s actively changing things for young people and providing opportunities which is something I feel particularly passionate about.

From world-class classical musicians to Clean Bandit and Chineke!, you’ve been a part of diverse and exciting collaborations throughout your career so far. How have these helped shape you as a musician?

All of them have shaped me in different ways. I learned a lot, firstly, from playing in the Cheneke! Orchestra. The first time I did, I was in my last year of school—so it was my first experience actually of playing in a professional orchestra. Certainly, meeting all of those players and musicians who were much older than me, with decades of experience around Europe and in the US, and hearing what their lives were like as performing, ‘grown-up’ musicians. The project with Clean Bandit was an opportunity I never really expected to come. I was about to start my first year in London at the Academy and I think it was just something really different and the experience of playing music where you might have to smile and dance around while you’re playing—and play in arenas rather than concert halls—is something that teaches you a lot as a performer. I gained a lot of confidence and seeing a completely different side of the music industry was really inspiring.

What inspires you?

The music itself! I think that music is one of those things that’s not that easy to talk about. I think when you’re a musician, with all the hours you spend practicing, playing and listening, you’re building a sort of inner world, an inner context that exists alongside your life and it’s a very abstract thing. So I think essentially, what inspires me at my core to keep playing and doing what I’m doing is my love of the music and my fascination with it. Also, my ambition with it—my imagination of the sound, particularly with the violin, and as that constantly develops and grows, I’m always chasing the realisation of that. Of course, you never get there but that’s the continuous goal—to play that phrase in a piece as you want it and try to technically bring it to life. There’s so much repertoire I’ve still yet to perform. Then, of course, all of my immediate goals—the concert I have in November at St George’s for instance! I’ve never played a recital at St George’s so that inspires me to pick up the violin and practice!

At St George’s, you’ll be performing with the acclaimed and deeply sensitive pianist Jâms Coleman. How do you complement each other within the partnership?

I’ve known of Jâms for many years as he plays with many musicians that I know very well so I’ve been an admirer of his playing for a long time. I think it’s really rare that you find someone who is incredibly sensitive and responsive to everything you’re doing, but at the same very much bringing

their own personality and their own strengths to it. It feels very much like a collaboration, which I think is what you want when you’re playing sonata repertoire. I’m really inspired to work with Jâms and I’m looking forward to playing with him.

With the concert entitled Songs My Mother Taught Me, the programme feels deeply emotional. What influenced your choice of repertoire and inspired the direction of this concert?

We were fascinated by sonatas that have a folk influence, where composers—like Dvořák, who wrote the piece by which the programme is titled—have this ability to compose a melody that feels that, although you may be hearing it for the first time, you’ve known it for your whole life, in the way that you would if it was something your mother had sung to you since you were born. So we built the programme around that and the pieces we felt had those qualities. We also wanted to include pieces that we’ve always wanted to explore but maybe audiences aren’t very familiar with, such as the Alberga, which we’re really excited to share.

Is there a particular movement, moment or theme within the programme you’re looking forward to performing live? Is there a particular moment you would like to draw our attention to?

It’s a very simple, almost encore-style piece, but I think the Dvořák’s Songs my Mother Taught Me. It just really encapsulates that idea of music that you feel like you’ve always known, even if you’ve never heard it before. It’s incredibly satisfying to play and I think to play that in the acoustic that St George’s has—I think I’ll particularly enjoy that.

Looking to the future, what are your longer-term goals? What are you most looking forward to over the next year?

In terms of this coming year, I’m performing the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Concerto, playing for the first time with London Mozart Players, in Fairfield Hall in Croydon where Coleridge-Taylor lived. I’m really excited to play my debut with that orchestra and to play his concerto in a place where he grew up.

Finally, if you could choose one piece to take to a desert island, what would it be?

My favourite piece ever is—which is also a good one as it’s relatively long—is Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. There’s a recording that I listened to so much as a child with Itzhak Perlman, the Berlin Philharmonic and Daniel Barenboim conducting. I think the Beethoven Violin Concerto is just the most amazing piece—it’s so majestic—and to take Itzhak Perlman’s tone with me is the best choice I can imagine.

Words by Louise Goodger