10-year-old pianist plays Chopin’s Fantaisie Impromptu with extraordinary command and poise

 

By Kyle Macdonald

 

Pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason is now one of the nation’s finest young musicians. This performance from 2013 gives an incredible insight into her developing talent.

Meet a 10-year-old who was in full command of music, giving a Chopin performance beyond her years.

The Fantaisie-Impromptu is a piece for solo piano at a breathless tempo, with rapid rolling broken chords in the left hand and flowing semi-quavers in the right. Composed in 1834, the fantasy showcases the full virtuosity, poetry and inventiveness of Chopin’s writing.

As fiendish and technical as it is, a talented pianist will have command of the notes. But as with the greatest music performances, it’s the expression, emotion and poetry beyond those notes that hit the heart.

And that’s just what we got from this talented youngster ten years ago. It’s a five-minute window into the musical ability of a prodigy who has already gone on to achieve great things.

The young player is Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, the third youngest of the seven siblings of the Kanneh-Mason family.

It was filmed by her father Stuart Mason for the family’s YouTube channel, which has showcased the almost unbelievable musical talents of the two brothers and five sisters as they have lived and grown with music.

The Kanneh-Mason family react to their very first viral video | Classic FM

“Jeneba plays Chopin with sensitivity and maturity beyond her tender age of only 10,” commented one YouTube user, on this performance. 

“Such technical ability and such emotion,” remarked another.

This video was recorded a few months after the young pianist gained Grade 8 Distinction and won the Nellie Greenhill Memorial Prize from the Associated Board for the highest marks in the Nottingham area.

Jeneba is now aged 20, and is studying at the Royal College of Music, where she holds the Victoria Robey Scholarship and studies piano with Vanessa Latarche.

Her talents now extend to great piano concertos with recent performances including Tchaikovsky, Ravel and Saint-Saëns’ concertos, as well as Florence Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement with Chineke! Orchestra.

Jeneba was also among the young performers that were showcased at Classic FM’s Rising Stars with Julian Lloyd Webber in 2022. Watch her intoxicating performance of Liszt’s rollicking Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 below.

Jeneba Kanneh-Mason plays Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 | Classic FM’s Rising Stars

That raw talent and sense of poetry in music-making has only grown over a decade. She is a very special musician and one to watch into the future.

Romeo proposes to Juliet, after stunning ballet duet on stage at Verona Arena

Romeo proposes to Juliet, after stunning ballet duet on-stage at Verona Arena. Picture: Timofej Andrijashenko / Nicoletta Manni

By Maddy Shaw Roberts

 

A real life-Romeo proposed to his Juliet, on stage during a ballet celebration at the Arena di Verona.

On a balmy night in July, a Romeo and Juliet ‘Pas de deux’ ended in a proposal, for these two ballet dancers in Verona.

Timofej Andrijashenko and Nicoletta Manni had been together for seven years, and both dance at La Scala in Milan as primo ballerino and prima ballerina.

The pair had just performed the duet scene from Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet on the stage of the Arena di Verona, the Italian city’s famously atmospheric open-air theatre, and were enjoying the audience’s applause.

As the ovation began to quieten, much to the delight of the audience, Timofej then ever so gracefully made the descent onto one knee. Shakespearean romance then became reality, as he popped the question to a stunned Nicoletta, whose reaction was all elation and adoration.

Speaking afterwards to Italian news agency ANSA, Nicoletta confessed she was “the only one who did not know” about the proposal.

Read more: 11-year-old Japanese dancer takes top ballet prize with this dazzling routine

The show, aptly named ‘Roberto Bolle and Friends’, was put on by the Italian dancer Robert Bolle in the summer of 2022.

Bolle, who is principal dancer étoile at La Scala Theatre Ballet, happens to be a friend of Timofej’s. After Timofej confided in his friend about his plans, Bolle suggested the romantic setting, and asked the couple to dance the Romeo and Juliet dance. 

From that point on, all behind the scenes of the show were involved in the elaborate staging.

Nicoletta’s brother, a lighting designer for the production, had hidden the ring on stage, for Timofej to pick up at the end of their duet.

At that moment, “time had slowed down,” Timofej told ANSA. “It seemed to me that it would never end, until I saw Nicoletta’s eyes looking at me.”

Timofej had also organised for Nicoletta’s parents to be in the audience that night, along with other close friends of theirs.

“I did not know that my boyfriend had organised everything perfectly, without telling me,” Nicoletta said. “He had invited my parents… my brother is a light-designer and is working at the Arena.

“All our dearest ones were there, without my knowledge.”

She said yes... Picture: Timofej Andrijashenko / Nicoletta Manni

Timofej waited until after the final applause, and waited until the other dancers had moved into their places.

“Let’s say that I haven’t recovered yet, I was already very happy to be able to play Juliet in Verona, her city, to dance the duo with Tima, the man I love, my Romeo,” she told the news agency.

It was the perfect setting – Verona, famous for its connection to the Shakespearean couple, and the city to which people from all over the world flock to indulge in the fantasy.

Nicoletta added that much like Romeo and Juliet, “Our love will be immortal”, before adding, “… but less tragic!”