The Valley Concert Society presents British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason in concert on Tuesday, Dec. 5.
The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. at Matsqui Centennial Auditorium (32315 South Fraser Way).
Sheku will perform with his sister Isata, a talented pianist.
Since winning the prestigious BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2016 at the age of 16, Sheku’s career has undergone a meteoric rise.
He is a native of Nottingham, England, and has performed with major British orchestras in London, Liverpool and Birmingham.
He went on to play with the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich, Switzerland, the Barcelona Symphony, and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra at the Concertgebouw.
Sheku made his North American debut in Los Angeles, and played with the Atlanta Symphony and the Louisiana Symphony.
When he performs for the Vancouver Recital Society on Sunday, the concert will have been sold out for more than a week.
Sheku is the third child of a talented musical family of seven. Isata, the oldest, inspired her younger siblings to pursue music more intently when she began to study piano seriously.
The family wowed the audience and the judges with their performance in the Britain’s Got Talent competition in 2015.
Isata reached the final of the piano category in BBC’s Young Musician competition in 2014. She has performed extensively around Britain as well as in the Caribbean and Canada.
She is currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music, having been awarded the prestigious Sir Elton John Scholarship.
Sheku and Isata performed with their five siblings at Marlborough House before Prince Charles for Commonwealth Day.
Sheku plays an Antonius and Hieronymus Amati cello built around 1610. This instrument is on loan from a private collection.
He will open the concert with a Solo Suite for Cello by Gaspar Cassadó, a cellist and composer from Barcelona who studied with Pablo Casals.
Sheku and Isata will perform sonatas by Beethoven and Shostakovich. It was a concerto by Shostakovich that was the winning performance last May at the BBC Young Musician competition.
Sheku will make his debut at Vienna’s Konzerthaus with the Japan Philharmonic and has signed an exclusive recording contract with Decca Classics. His first concerto recording is expected in 2018.
Tickets are $28 general and $15 for students. They are available online at valleyconcertsociety.com or by calling 604-289-3377.