There was an air of excitement and expectation at the Peak Music Society on Saturday 29th March. The capacity audience had come to hear the concert pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason give a piano recital. The Kanneh-Mason family story is one of exceptional musical excellence and talent in a family of seven children. Jeneba won the keyboard category final in the Young Musician of the Year competition in 2018 and has also won other prestigious prizes.
Jennaba’s programme of Scarlatti, Chopin, Scriabin and Prokofiev was well chosen to show us her breathtaking technical facility on the piano. Her performance also gave us a wide range of emotions. Singing melodies, sparkling runs and powerful chordal passages took us from melancholy to a sense of awe and joy. Her musical communication with the audience was palpable and Jenneba’s encore of The Girl with the Flaxen Hair by Debussy was a perfect end to a memorable afternoon.
We will see and hear much more of Jenneba Kanneh-Mason in the coming years and many of us will be following her developing performing career with great interest.