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Artist: Isata Kanneh-Mason
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Isata Kanneh-Mason:

Mendelssohn

As she prepares to open the 2024 BBC Proms season, Isata Kanneh-Mason today presents her fourth solo album, Mendelssohn, to be released on 9th August on Decca Classics. Here the pianist presents music from both Mendelssohn siblings: the glittering Piano Concerto No.1 by Felix and the long-lost ‘Easter Sonata’ by his exceptionally talented but overlooked elder sister Fanny, as well as transcriptions by other composers of some of Mendelssohn’s most famous music.

“I am fascinated by Fanny Mendelssohn,' says Kanneh-Mason, 'She lived in such a confined way, yet her music has so much fire and so much passion.” That confinement was part and parcel of life for women in the 19th-century: Fanny was prevented by her father from pursuing a career as a concert pianist or composer due to her gender. Rather than adhere to his strict instructions that music should be merely an 'ornament' for his daughter, Fanny composed in private, writing nearly 500 works. Many of these are still being discovered today, with several – such as the 'Easter' Sonata, written when Fanny was only 22 – a piece lost for 150 years, originally assumed to have been created by Felix and performed under his name for decades.

Isata recently featured in the critically acclaimed film ‘Fanny: The Other Mendelssohn’, produced by the composer’s great-great-great-granddaughter Sheila Hayman, which explores the life of Fanny Mendelssohn, later Fanny Hensel, and revealing the fascinating story behind ‘Easter Sonata’. This new album features the world premiere recording of the new urtext edition of this work.

Isata Kanneh-Mason:

Childhood Tales

Decca Classics is delighted to announce that pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason’s third album ‘Childhood Tales’ is out now. Continuing her developing legacy with Decca Classics that began in 2019, this album uses Dolby Atmos Technology to capture Isata’s signature virtuosic flair. The first single, Mozart’s Variation 11: Adagio from Twelve Variations on “Ah vous dirai-je, Maman”, is out today.

The eldest of the famous musical siblings, Isata’s first memory of playing the piano was as a five-year-old on holiday in the Caribbean and sitting in front of her grandparents’ instrument. With a reputation for inventive programs, expressive performance and accomplished technique, Isata is in increasing demand nationally and internationally and was the only classical artist to appear in TIDAL’s 2023 Rising Artists to Watch.

Isata evokes the magic of childhood in this charming collection of nostalgic music. The album is centred around Erno Dohnányi’s rarely performed Variations on a Nursery Song, expanding the well-known ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ into a truly virtuosic work which takes the theme through eleven musical variations and a fugal finale. Subtitled “for the enjoyment of friends of humour, to the annoyance of others”, it saw great success when it was introduced in the UK in the 1910s, with its witty, kaleidoscopic mix making this a concert favourite for many years afterwards before falling out of fashion – it was subsequently performed almost every year at the Proms from 1920s to 1950s. Isata is joined by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom she previously recorded Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto for her 2019 album “Romance” on Decca.

Isata Kanneh-Mason:

Summertime

Following on from her award-winning, debut album Romance, a portrait of Clara Schumann that landed at the top of the UK Classical Chart on its release in 2019, 25-year-old British pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason presents her vibrant second album Summertime, fizzing with her signature virtuosic flair. The album is released on CD and digitally on Decca Classics on 9th July 2021.

Isata says, "I am delighted to be presenting my second solo album Summertime, which features a rich array of pieces from many of my favourite American classical composers. The Barber Piano Sonata forms the anchor around which the rest of the album was developed; I fell in love with the piece the first time I heard it, and it's a real pleasure to have recorded it for Decca. I wanted this album to illustrate the diversity of music in America at that time, and so it was important to me to include the more familiar Gershwin songs, as well as the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor spirituals to which I feel a personal connection."

Isata Kanneh-Mason:

ROMANCE - THE PIANO MUSIC OF CLARA SCHUMANN

Isata Kanneh-Mason presents a portrait of the life and music of Clara Schumann
Debut album ‘Romance' released on Decca Classics on 5 July

For the 200th anniversary of Clara Schumann's birth, Isata Kanneh-Mason takes us on a journey through the composer's extraordinary life with her stunning debut album on Decca Classics. Isata will be joining forces with an all-female line-up to champion the significance of women musicians throughout the years, and their influence on the classical musical canon. The recording features Clara Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor, written at the age of fourteen, performed by the composer at Leipzig Gewandhaus two years later under the baton of Felix Mendelssohn.