This Week in Classical Music w/Randy Kinkel 1/06/19

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Sheku Gives Back to Old School;

Classical Music for Teen Inmates

 

It’s  “This Week in Classical Music”, an update on what’s happening in the classical music world; I’m Randy Kinkel.

having topped the classical music charts and performed before a global TV audience of hundreds of millions at Prince Harry and  Meghan Markle’s wedding,

Sheku Kanneh-Mason has trouble picking the highlight of his year. “It’s all been really, really amazing,” he said. “I have just enjoyed each thing but sometimes the really small things, like playing for children in a school, are really special.”

Music education is a passion for Kanneh-Mason, who is using his new-found fame to highlight its value “I think it’s so, so important,” said Kanneh-Mason, who attended a public school in Nottingham.

“I was very, very lucky that all of the schools I went to were supportive of music. I had the opportunity to experience music from a young age and I’d love for everyone to have that opportunity”. He’s putting his money where his mouth is also, , donating £3,000 to his old school, Trinity Catholic School in Nottingham, to ensure the future of cello teaching there.

The 19 year old’s debut album, Inspiration, reached No 11 in the pop charts, he won two Classic Brit awards and also played the Royal Variety performance.

 

 

 

 

It’s something the teenage inmates at the Metro Regional Center, a Department of Youth Services facility in Boston, don’t get a chance to do that often—listen to live classical music. 

One teen tried his hand at conducting the group of classically trained musicians, tentatively moving his hands like a conductor would, setting the tempo for the musicians as they played Bach's “The Art of Fugue.”

the teens were being visited by Sarasa, a Boston-based chamber ensemble. The group was originally a collective of musicians that has mushroomed into a mission-driven arts organization that goes to venues that range from concert halls to correctional facilities.

The group now performs in youth service facilities about a dozen times a year. They recently received a Community Partner Award from the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services. After the performance, musicians invite the teens to describe the music and how it made them feel. One teen said “it was calm and intense and calm again.”

“It's always interesting to play because you never know how they're going to react … this past time ... we were playing Bach's "Art of the Fugue" and that's quite a complex piece, intellectual piece but they seemed to really react well to it,” Morsches said.

 

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