Isata Kanneh-Mason returns solo, with adventurous program and electrifying playing, to Vancouver Recital Society, March 6

The stylish sibling of famed cellist Sheku is deservedly making her Canadian solo recital debut

Vancouver Recital Society presents Isata Kanneh-Mason on March 6 at the Vancouver Playhouse, 3 pm

THE LAST time Vancouverites saw pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason, she was accompanying her more famous brother, U.K. cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, at a packed Orpheum Theatre in a Vancouver Recital Society show in 2019.

Back then, the two siblings more than lived up to sky-high expectations with a gutsy and unexpected program that wowed the crowd. Several standing-O curtain calls ensued.

Now Isata is, more than deservedly, back in town with the VRS on her own (it’s her Canadian solo recital debut) with a program that looks equally adventurous: think finger-pummelling Rachmaninoff alongside Mozart, Eleanor Alberga, and more.

If her last appearance here was any indication, the older Kanneh-Mason will hand in an electrifying performance: she has a way of finding all the romantic textures of Chopin and Rachmaninoff, sometimes lifting right off her bench for the climaxes. And, TBH, we can’t wait to see what she’s wearing: the 2019 outing featured a glimmering white-gold-sequinned jumpsuit, her then-braids often flailing around her shoulders.

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Janet Smith

Janet Smith is founding partner and editorial director of Stir. She is an award-winning arts journalist who has spent more than two decades immersed in Vancouver’s dance, screen, design, theatre, music, opera, and gallery scenes. She sits on the Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle.

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