Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason awarded MBE in New Year’s Honours

Sheku Kanneh-Mason awarded MBE in New Year’s Honours. Picture: BBC

By Maddy Shaw Roberts

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Sheku Kanneh-Mason has been recognized in the New Year’s Honors list 2020 alongside director Sam Mendes, broadcaster Humphrey Burton and Sir Elton John.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason, 20-year-old cellist and Decca recording artist, has been made an MBE (Member of the British Empire) for his services to music.

After winning the 2016 BBC Young Musician of the Year, Sheku played to an audience of two billion people at the royal wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and quickly found international fame as a soloist.

He has since been outspoken about music education, and is a Junior Ambassador of London Music Masters, a music education charity that supports young musicians in classical music.

“To be awarded the MBE for services to music is amazing,” Sheku tells Classic FM.

“I was so lucky to have the dedicated support of my parents in giving me the opportunity to have specialist music lessons from a young child. I also had incredible support from the state schools I attended in Nottingham where music was promoted for its value in developing listening skills, teamwork, self-expression and hard work.

“The love and enjoyment for this great art is something that should be available to everyone, regardless of background.”

Sam Mendes and trumpet virtuoso Alison Balsom. Picture: Getty

Sheku is joined in the New Year’s Honours list by theatre and film director Sam Mendes CBE – married to trumpet virtuoso Alison Balsom (pictured above) – who is made Knight Bachelor for services to drama.

Humphrey Burton CBE, legendary broadcaster and Leonard Bernstein’s official biographer, is also made Knight Bachelor for services to classical music, the arts and media. Burton has recently presented two series on Classic FM, celebrating the lives and work of two great musicians: Yehudi Menuhin and Leonard Bernstein.

At the top of the honours list, Sir Elton John is awarded the Order of the Companions of Honour for his services to music and charity.

Last month, Sir Elton spoke exclusively to Classic FM about the “tragic” state of music education in the UK, saying: “A lot of schools [now] have taken music out of the curriculum and I find that really appalling, because music is so inspiring and for kids that have the ability or want to play music, there’s no outlet for this in schools anymore.”

Read more: Elton John says ‘It’s tragic that music is being taken out of schools’ >

Sir Elton John awarded the Order of the Companions of Honour for his services to music and charity. Picture: Getty

English composer and mezzo-soprano Judith Bingham, who is also a Fellow of the Royal Northern College of Music, has been appointed OBE.

Others made MBE for services to music include Scottish composer Helen Grime whose opus, Virga, was chosen as one of the best ten new classical works of the 2000s by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

For his services to dance, artistic director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet and former ballet dancer David Julian Bintley CBE is made Knight Bachelor.

Schumann: Piano Concerto, Op. 54 - Arthur Jussen and Residentie Orkest -...

Beethoven’s unfinished tenth symphony to be completed ...

...  by artificial intelligence

Beethoven’s unfinished tenth symphony to be completed by artificial intelligence. Picture: Getty

By Maddy Shaw Roberts

16K

Beethoven’s unfinished symphony is set to be completed by artificial intelligence, in the run-up to celebrations around the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth.

A computer is set to complete Beethoven’s unfinished tenth symphony, in the most ambitious project of its kind.

Artificial intelligence has recently been used to complete Schubert’s ‘Unfinished’ Symphony No. 8, as well as to attempt to match the playing of revered 20th-century pianist, Glenn Gould.

Beethoven famously wrote nine symphonies (you can read more here about the Curse of the Ninth). But alongside his Symphony No. 9, which contains the ‘Ode to Joy’, there is evidence that he began writing a tenth.

Unfortunately, when the German composer died in 1827, he left only drafts and notes of the composition.

Read more: What is the Curse of the Ninth – and does it really exist? >

But can a computer really replicate Beethoven’s genius?

A team of musicologists and programmers have been training the artificial intelligence, by playing snippets of Beethoven’s unfinished Symphony No. 10, as well as sections from other works like his ‘Eroica’ Symphony. The AI is then left to improvise the rest.

Matthias Roeder, project leader and director of the Herbert von Karajan institute, told Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung: “No machine has been able to do this for so long. This is unique.”

“The quality of genius cannot be fully replicated, still less if you’re dealing with Beethoven’s late period,” said Christine Siegert, head of the Beethoven Archive in Bonn and one of those managing the project.

“I think the project’s goal should be to integrate Beethoven’s existing musical fragments into a coherent musical flow,” she told the German broadcaster Deutshe Welle. “That’s difficult enough, and if this project can manage that, it will be an incredible accomplishment.”

Read more: AI to compose classical music live in concert with over 100 musicians >

Beethoven died before completing his tenth symphony. Picture: Getty

What will the symphony sound like?

It remains to be seen – and heard – whether the new completed composition will sound anything like Beethoven’s own compositions. But Mr Roeder has said the algorithm is making positive progress.

Read more: Google’s piano gadget means ANYONE can improvise classical music >

“The algorithm is unpredictable, it surprises us every day. It is like a small child who is exploring the world of Beethoven.

“But it keeps going and, at some point, the system really surprises you. And that happened the first time a few weeks ago. We’re pleased that it’s making such big strides.”

There will also, reliable sources have confirmed, be some human involvement in the project. Although the computer will write the music, a living composer will orchestrate it for playing.

The results of the experiment will be premiered by a full symphony orchestra, in a public performance in Bonn – Beethoven’s birthplace in Germany – on 28 April 2020.

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Gustav Mahler - His Music and His Life

QUICK FACTS

NAME

Gustav Mahler

OCCUPATION

Songwriter, Conductor, Pianist

BIRTH DATE

July 7, 1860

DEATH DATE

May 18, 1911

EDUCATION

Vienna Conservatory

PLACE OF BIRTH

Kališt, Czech Republic

PLACE OF DEATH

Vienna, Austria

• SYNOPSIS
• CITE THIS PAGE

Austrian composer and conductor Gustav Mahler became popular in the late 19th century for his emotionally charged and subtly orchestrated symphonies.

Synopsis

Born on July 7, 1860, Austrian composer and conductor Gustav Mahler served as director for the Vienna Court Opera from 1897 to 1907. He later led the New York Metropolitan Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra. He wrote 10 symphonies during his career, which became popular for their 20th-century techniques and emotional character. He died in Vienna on May 18, 1911.

Early Life

Gustav Mahler was born into an Austrian Jewish family on July 7, 1860 in Kaliste, Czech Republic. Mahler and his 11 siblings grew up in Jihlava, where pronounced ethnic divisions made him feel like an outsider. With music serving as an outlet, he began singing and composing on the accordion and piano at the age of 4 and gave his first recital at 10. When he was 15 years old, Mahler entered the Vienna Conservatory. During his years at the school, he began composing a piece where he felt he was able to truly develop his voice, Das klagende Lied. Ultimately, he turned to conducting after graduation, believing it to be a more practical career choice.

Mahler: Symphony No. 7 - Radio Philharmonic Orchestra led by Edo de Waar...

André Rieu donates £360k to provide music lessons for 1,000 children

2 December 2019, 16:55

André Rieu donates £360k to provide music lessons for children. Picture: Getty

By Maddy Shaw Roberts

0

The Dutch violinist made the generous donation to a youth foundation, which provides music lessons for children whose families can’t afford them

André Rieu has donated €425,000 (£360,000) to provide music lessons for 1,000 children living in his hometown in the Netherlands.

The Dutch violinist and conductor donated the money to Jeugdfonds Cultuur Limburg, a culture and youth foundation in the province of Limburg.

With music increasingly disappearing from schools, Rieu says, children today are learning to make music far less than before.

“I would like to give these children the pleasure of making music,” said the maestro. “My orchestra members and I know how much fun it is to make music every day, and to make millions of people happy with music night after night.”

Read more: André Rieu’s concerts, wife, net worth and more facts >

André Rieu playing a full-size violin as a child. Picture: Beeld Privéarchief Rieu

“We were all given the chance to have music lessons since our childhood and were fortunate to learn how to play an instrument,” he continued.

“So, we may understand better than anyone else what it means if you do not get that chance to be involved with music as a child.”

According to Jeugdfonds Cultuur Limburg, it costs €425 (£365) to provide one child with music lessons for a year. The foundation plans to use its recent generous donation to open an ‘André Rieu Fund’, which they hope to use to draw more sponsors.

Earlier this year, Rieu offered to replace €20,000 worth of stolen instruments, which were taken from an orchestra for the mentally disabled. He said: “My heart broke when I read [the news]. I want them to be able to perform again very soon.”

Elton John: ‘It’s tragic that music is being taken out of schools

By Maddy Shaw Roberts

We met Sir Elton at his old alma mater to talk music education, his ‘mystical’ song-writing process and how the Royal Academy of Music has changed since 1958...

“It was so intimidating then,” Sir Elton tells Classic FM’s Tim Lihoreau, as they meet in a room behind reception at London’s Royal Academy of Music. “It smelt of fear.”

The great pianist and singer has just hosted a Q&A with students of the Academy, which he attended as a Junior Exhibitioner from the tender age of 11.

But by 16, the young Reggie Dwight had decided to quit his classical roots to pursue a career in rock ‘n roll. And, rather hearteningly, he still puts his enormous success down to those early years spent playing scales in a practice room.

“In those days, the Academy meant classical music and nothing else – certainly no rock ‘n roll. That was the devil’s music. But without my training, I never would’ve been able to write the songs I’ve written.

“I’m so grateful for my classical training. I played Chopin and Mozart and Debussy, and to be part of the choir was incredibly fulfilling. Singing in a choir is such a moving, life-affirming experience.”

Read more: Feeling stressed? Join a choir, says top psychiatrist >

Sir Elton John speaks to Classic FM’s Tim Lihoreau at the Royal Academy of Music. Picture: Classic FM

Today, eight Royal Academy students a year are on the Elton John Scholarship – a fund reserved for exceptional young musicians who would otherwise be unable to afford the fees.

There was a rather lovely moment during the Q&A when four of those students stood up and spoke about what they had achieved thanks to their star sponsor. This of course begged the question: what does Elton make of the dwindling presence of music in today’s schools?

Read more: ‘Music needs to stay on the school curriculum’, says RPO head >

“Music was one of the few O Levels I managed to get,” Sir Elton tells Tim.

“A lot of schools [now] have taken music out of the curriculum and I find that really appalling, because music is so inspiring and for kids that have the ability or want to play music, there’s no outlet for this in schools anymore. It’s tragic.”

Watch Taron Egerton and Elton John’s magical duet at 'Rocketman' Cannes premiere

Credit: Getty Images

Sir Elton has famously enjoyed a long-lasting relationship with the keyboard. The story goes that as a teenager at the Royal Academy of Music, he played a note-perfect rendition of a four-page Handel composition, completely by ear (for any Rocketman fans out there, the moment is replicated in the movie but replaced with Mozart’s better-known Rondo alla turca).

Read more: Elton John’s ‘Rocket Man’ under the microscope – why is it so good? >

But that isn’t the only great musical relationship Elton has enjoyed throughout his professional life. His arrangement with songwriter Bernie Taupin is, Tim suggests, a somewhat mystical one.

“It’s very mystical. There’s no rhyme or reason. It exists, I don’t question it,” Elton replies. “It sounds very cliché but it’s like a gift from God.

“I look at his lyrics, as I’m looking at them a film appears, I finish the lyrics, I puts my hands on the keys and then I go from there. Usually, the first four or five chords I play determine what the song’s going to do. And I have no idea where it comes from.”

Sir Elton John singing 'Candle In The Wind' at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. Picture: Getty

After around 60 years of playing for other people, it would be easy to assume that Sir Elton got over any feelings of stage fright decades ago.

But there was one instance of it that he still remembers very clearly – and it was when he famously played ‘Candle in the Wind’ at the funeral of Diana, the Princess of Wales, in 1997.

“It was the only time I really got stage fright,” he tells Tim.

“It was an enormous responsibility, and I’d been singing that song for so many years as ‘Goodbye Norma Jean’, and I had to call on all my professionalism of all my years of playing in clubs and being Elton John to pull that off.

“And I was doing it for all the people outside, all around the world, so I had a teleprompter. I just didn’t want to sing ‘Goodbye Norma Jean’ – I would’ve been garrotted on the spot. And I pulled it off because I had to. You have to man up in situations like that.”