Sheku Kanneh-Mason appeared on this week’s edition of Countryfile on BBC One, joining Matt Baker in the Malvern Hills – the hometown of his favourite composer, Sir Edward Elgar.
The 22-year-old cellist also played Countryfile presenters Matt Baker and Anita Rani an excerpt from Elgar’s Cello Concerto at St Wulstan’s Church, the composer’s resting place at the foot of the Malvern Hills. ‘Elgar’s Cello Concerto was always my favourite piece of music and I was always drawn to it,’ he told Baker.
Sheku Kanneh-Mason is best known for his appearance at the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018, having previously risen to fame as the 2016 winner of BBC Young Musician. Since then, he has gone on to release recordings of works by Shostakovich and Elgar. Together with his six talented siblings, he has performed across the UK and released a debut Kanneh-Mason family album, featuring Saint-Saëns’s The Carnival of the Animals.
Despite being a long-time admirer of Elgar’s music, it was Kanneh-Mason’s first trip to the Malvern Hills. ‘When you come to places like this, it adds another layer or another dimension – another connection to the piece of music,’ he says.
Matt Baker also met Dawn Middleton, gardener at Elgar’s birthplace, ‘The Firs’. We recently named ‘The Firs’ as one of the best National Trust properties for classical music lovers to visit in the UK. She introduced audiences to the statue of Elgar at ‘The Firs’, in which Elgar is gazing into the distance of the Malvern Hills.
The episode also looked at the life and work of writers JRR Tolkein and CS Lewis, who found inspiration in the beauty of the Malvern Hills.
See you Sunday night on @BBCOne for a walk and a play on the iconic programme Countryfile! Little clue – it’s Elgar country…???????? pic.twitter.com/cPB3qYxuy4
— Sheku Kanneh-Mason (@ShekuKM) December 10, 2021
You can catch up on this episode of Countryfile with cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason on BBC iPlayer now.