Isata Kanneh-Mason & the Proms
The Proms are a welcome and regular feature of the British summer.
They are experimental and a platform for new and younger talent but not too woke-ish.
Last Sunday I watched on the TV a prom featuring Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto and Tchaikovsky. The virtuoso pianist for the Prokofiev piece was Isata Kanneh-Mason.
She is one of seven siblings the most celebrated of whom – Sheku – is a celebrated cellist. Another sister is a concert performer. Isata wore a lilac dress which revealed more than it hid.
You may well say – and some already have done so to me – that she can wear what she likes and is entitled to maximise her appearance when she is the focus of attention. This is true but equally her appearance was designed to provoke a reaction and if any male presenter would make a sexist comment he would be in hot water.
This happened recently when an inexperienced presenter made a ‘Barbie ‘ reference.
Although Isata’s playing was a tad aggressive for my tastes striking, rather than caressing, the keyboard you had to admire her dexterity in a difficult piece to play. She was given to that rather convulsive jig that barmen sometimes adopt with the cocktail shaker.
In interview with a rather gushing Clive Myrie who was clever and experienced enough not to comment on her looks, she appeared grounded, grateful that her family and friends were present to support her and confessing she found the piece exhausting.
Despite the best efforts of Classic FM, classical music does have a problem in attracting a younger audience more likely to listen to streamed pop and rock music.
Thus Nicola Benedetti and Kathryn Jenkins are entitled to maximise their looks to boost their career but once they do so must accept that they will be judged as much by these as their musicianship.
