![\"\"](\"https:\/\/soundslikesydney.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Capture-1-243x240.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Move over the von Trapp family! The prodigiously gifted Kanneh-Mason family will this week release a new album Carnival<\/em>, on Decca Classics. Carnival<\/em> is a very special collaboration between Academy Award-winning actor Olivia Colman, former Children\u2019s Laureate and author of War<\/em> Horse,<\/em> Sir Michael Morpurgo and the seven talented Kanneh-Mason siblings \u2013 Isata, Braimah, Sheku, Konya, Jeneba, Aminata and Mariatu.<\/p>\n Recorded at London\u2019s Abbey Road Studios, Carnival<\/em> is terrific for kids and includes new poems written by Morpurgo to accompany French composer Saint-Sa\u00ebns\u2019 musical suite The Carnival of the Animals<\/em>. The poems are read by Mopurgo himself, joined by the star of\u00a0 The Favourite, <\/em>Olivia Colman and guest musicians.<\/p>\n In The Carnival of the Animals, <\/em>Saint-Sa\u00ebns uses different themes and instruments to represent different animals through descriptive musical motifs. The cameo pieces are interpolated with readings by Colman. Morpurgo\u2019s heart-warming Grandpa Christmas<\/em> story, is set to music for the first time with classic tracks including Tchaikovsky’s \u2018The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy<\/em>\u2019 from The Sleeping Beauty<\/em> ballet, The Flight of the Bumblebee <\/em>by Rimsky-Korsakov and Sea Murmurs <\/em>by Eric Whitacre. Morpurgo reads the role of Grandpa, with the youngest Kanneh-Mason, Mariatu, reading the role of his granddaughter.<\/p>\n Carnival<\/em> is the debut recording for youngest Kanneh-Mason sisters Konya, Jeneba, Aminata and Mariatu. It includes a new arrangement of Eric Whitacre\u2019s The Seal Lullaby<\/em> featuring all seven siblings, aged between 11-24. There is also the Kanneh-Masons\u2019 own arrangement of Bob Marley\u2019s iconic Redemption Song<\/em>, marking 40 years since its release in 1980 \u2013 fewer than five years before Marley died.<\/p>\n The charming artwork for Carnival<\/em> has been specially commissioned from children\u2019s illustrator Emma Chichester Clark, who has created a colourful storybook featuring birds, kangaroos, elephants and all seven Kanneh-Mason siblings, depicted with their instruments.<\/p>\n For the Kanneh-Masons, 2020 has presented one overriding positive: the opportunity for all members of the family to gather at home for the first time in over five years, performing together and sharing their extraordinary talents with the world via a series of livestreams, watched by millions around the world.<\/p>\n The family is passionate about music education and Sheku, who is still a student, has inspired many children to take up the cello \u2013 dubbed \u2018The Sheku Effect\u2019 (New York Times). While Sheku and Isata enjoy successful solo careers, they also appear internationally as a duo with performances in New York\u2019s Carnegie Hall and London\u2019s Royal Albert Hall. With their brother Braimah, they often perform together as the Kanneh-Mason Trio, having toured in the UK, US and the Caribbean. Braimah, who leads the ensemble on Carnival, <\/em>performs regularly\u00a0in the UK and sometimes appears with British electronic music group Clean Bandit, performing on the band\u2019s No. 1 single Rockabye<\/em>.<\/p>\n While Carnival<\/em> is the first Kanneh-Mason family album, Sheku and Isata have each released their own solo albums. Sheku Kanneh-Mason, who rose to fame after winning BBC Young Musician 2016 and later performed at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, has released two albums \u2013 the most recent, Elgar<\/em>, proved a chart hit when it was released in January, with 14 consecutive weeks at No.1 on the Australian Classical Chart and reaching No.8 in the UK Official Album Chart. Meanwhile, Isata landed Germany\u2019s prestigious Opus Klassik Young Artist award for her debut album Romance: The Piano Music of Clara Schumann<\/em>.<\/p>\n The performers: Isata Kanneh-Mason, age 24 (piano)\/ Braimah Kanneh-Mason, 22 (violin)\/ Sheku Kanneh-Mason, 21 (cello)\/ Konya Kanneh-Mason, 20 (piano & violin)\/ Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, 18 (piano & cello)\/ Aminata Kanneh-Mason, 15 (violin & piano)\/ Mariatu Kanneh-Mason, 11 (cello & piano)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Move over the von Trapp family! The prodigiously gifted Kanneh-Mason family will this week release a new album Carnival, on Decca Classics.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"sls_format":[],"class_list":["post-28280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":{"deck":"","is_featured":false,"media_type":"standard","audio_embed":"","video_url":""},"yoast_head":"\n