Sheku Kanneh-Mason performs Britten

The evening

When composers write about their friends and heroes, the results are intriguing – things get personal in this concert featuring star cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason.

A sad bell tolls at the beginning of Arvo Pärt’s transcendent Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten. The Estonian minimalist was moved by the death of a composer he’d never met – but deeply admired.

Britten himself was thrilled to meet the Russian cellist Rostropovich, whose untamed performance style inspired Britten to write an emotional piece for cello and orchestra. For these concerts, the brilliant Sheku Kanneh-Mason puts his own spin on this groundbreaking work.

Each of Elgar’s 14 Variations is a portrait of a friend (except the last, representing the composer himself). This much-loved work has become personally meaningful to decades of audiences, and remains a Hallé favourite.