0:01

BBC Sounds, music, radio,

0:03

podcasts. Hello, I'm Lauren

0:05

Laverne and this is the Desert Island Discs

0:08

podcast. Every week I ask my guests to

0:10

choose the eight tracks, book and luxury they'd

0:12

want to take with them if they were

0:14

cast away to a desert island. And

0:17

for rights reasons, the music is shorter

0:19

than the original broadcast. I hope you

0:21

enjoy listening. My

0:45

cast away this week is the

0:47

cellist Shae-Kook-Anae Mason. At 24 he's

0:49

one of classical music's brightest stars,

0:51

with a CV many musicians twice

0:53

his age would kill for. His

0:56

appearance at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

0:58

in 2018 catapulted him to

1:01

international recognition, with an estimated

1:03

global television audience of two

1:05

billion. Since then he's performed

1:07

everywhere from Downing Street to the Hollywood Bowl

1:09

and was a soloist at the last night

1:11

of the proms last year. He's the first

1:13

cellist to hit the top ten in the

1:15

British album chart and had an MBE for

1:18

outstanding achievement by the time he was 21.

1:21

He began playing the cello when he

1:23

was six. By nine he had completed

1:25

all of his music grades, receiving the

1:27

highest marks in the country and at

1:29

17 he won the BBC Young Musician

1:31

of the Year competition. He still remembers

1:33

the first time he picked up the

1:35

instrument that would change his life. He

1:38

says, I loved the feeling of almost

1:40

hugging an instrument and feeling its vibrations,

1:43

looking down at the fingerboard and seeing

1:45

all the possibilities. Shae-Kook-Anae

1:47

Mason, welcome to Desert Island Discs.

1:50

Thank you very much, thanks for having me. You're

1:52

absolutely thrilled that you're here, Shae-Kook. So how would

1:54

you describe your relationship with your cello today? I

1:57

mean, I was surprised that your cello was with

1:59

you. It's not with me literally

2:01

all the time, but a lot of the time

2:03

I have a rehearsal after this, that's why I

2:05

brought it. It did feel right that you walked

2:08

through the door carrying it though, I've got to

2:10

be honest. It's nice to have it

2:12

with me, it feels comforting. And I spend a lot of

2:14

time playing the cello and carrying the

2:16

cello and being with it. And it's, yeah,

2:19

in a way, it has taken me to so many places to

2:22

do so many things with the instruments. I'm grateful

2:24

for the cello itself. You've described performing

2:27

as a wonderful but draining sharing process. What

2:29

did you mean by that exactly? Oh,

2:32

yeah, I mean, not draining in a negative sense. I don't

2:34

think I can ever get tired of

2:36

it, but it requires so much energy

2:38

and concentration. And it's very, very demanding

2:41

in that sense. The responsibility of trying

2:43

to present this music

2:45

as truly and vividly

2:47

and honestly as possible is, yeah,

2:50

one that therefore takes a lot of focus. But

2:52

it's really wonderful. And I like the idea of a live

2:55

performance because you were there with this piece that's

2:57

written a few hundred years

3:00

ago, but it's been presented in this moment to

3:02

this group of people with this orchestra, this chamber

3:04

group in this hall. At this time, I love

3:07

the centering energy of that.

3:09

And it feels like that's really such

3:12

a special thing. For someone

3:14

for whom music has been such a central

3:16

part of their lives, how on earth did

3:18

you go about choosing your discs for this

3:20

programme? And here's a combination of things

3:22

that bring about very, very strong memories, some

3:25

things that I find really give

3:29

me a feeling of excitement or

3:31

exploring something or something that's like

3:34

I look at with wonder. And I

3:36

think keeping those things with me

3:38

as well, this sense of exploring and looking

3:41

upwards and around and inwards.

3:45

And I think that's a sense of exploration and wonder is

3:47

a great place to start. So let's go. Tell us about

3:49

your first disc, what have you chosen and why. Definitely

3:52

in the prayers and recordings of Alcos. I

3:55

was, yeah, surrounded by my wife I heard

3:57

and so I've had this wonderful

3:59

video about it. and

4:02

I used to watch them a lot growing

4:04

up and just trying to figure

4:06

out what was going on. But I think it's a

4:08

piece that is so fragile

4:10

at times and so constantly

4:13

changing and constantly expressing, I

4:15

guess, and the intention

4:17

behind how she plays

4:19

with this level of intensity and honesty has

4:23

had a massive impact on me. Part

5:26

of the first movement from Elgar's

5:28

Cello Concerto, performed by Jacqueline Dupree

5:30

with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted

5:32

by Sir John Barber Ollie. Sheku

5:34

Kanemason, you were born in 1999, your

5:37

dad Stuart is a senior executive for

5:39

a luxury travel company and your mum

5:41

Caddy is a former university lecturer. You

5:43

grew up in Nottingham, you're the third

5:45

of seven children and all of you

5:47

play musical instruments to an exceptionally high

5:49

standard. If I was to pay a visit

5:51

to the family home when you were a kid, what would

5:54

I have seen and heard? A lot

5:56

of practising all the time, well in the evenings once

5:58

you came back from. school we'd

6:00

all practice often at the same time

6:03

so it'd be quite a confetti of

6:05

noise, sometimes nice sounding music but I

6:07

think practice is a lot of repeating the same

6:10

things that wouldn't be so pleasant and

6:12

difficult to be listening to

6:14

necessarily but I found growing up in that environment

6:16

where you're surrounded by everyone else practicing it found

6:19

it meant that practice was less of

6:21

a lonely thing because everyone else was

6:23

doing it around me and so though I was in

6:25

the room on my own working things out by myself

6:27

it felt like a thing that was

6:29

quite collective and then outside

6:32

of that when we were interacting as siblings

6:34

it was chaos in terms of conversations and

6:36

shouting over each other and it works

6:39

because that's how we've done it. Was

6:42

there a sense of competition between the seven of you,

6:44

you know all interested in

6:46

music or motivated to do well

6:48

and achieve? I think within music

6:51

there was never the sense of competition

6:54

I think in almost everything

6:56

else like how tall we were going to grow

6:58

or who's going to win this game of that

7:01

or who's going to finish the

7:03

food first so you can get the first second helping or

7:05

he's going to have the biggest piece of chicken all those

7:07

kinds of things there was always constant competition

7:09

but not with music. I think we inspired each other

7:15

and helped each other and learnt

7:18

together in lots of ways. And

7:20

day to day your mum was looking

7:22

after you guys the most because your

7:24

dad worked quite long hours and was

7:26

away early morning until evening so

7:29

she was flying solo with all your kids she

7:31

must have been very organised

7:33

in fact disciplined to manage all

7:35

of you. Yeah quite amazing I think both

7:37

my parents to be very honest are

7:39

certainly some of the hardest working people

7:42

I've ever met and to have been around

7:44

that from a young age. I

7:46

think that's why my although

7:48

my motivation for practice you

7:51

know fluctuates a little bit I think this sense

7:53

of practice and work being important

7:55

was shown to

7:57

us all by my parents constantly because...

7:59

because they were always

8:02

working as hard as possible and had this

8:05

genuine love and commitment to all of us.

8:07

So you were taught that by example. Did

8:09

it ever bring a bit of pressure though?

8:11

I mean, it can be a lot, the

8:13

expectation, especially when you're doing well, because as

8:15

you've heard, you spun through all those grades

8:17

in three years, I think, from picking up

8:19

a cello to finishing your grade eight with

8:22

the highest marks in the country. But a

8:24

lot of expectation must have been with

8:26

stuff around you. Yeah, I think expectation is not

8:28

necessarily a bad or good thing. I think it

8:30

can be a very, very, very good thing. I

8:33

think pressure maybe is a

8:35

different thing. I didn't feel the sense of pressure

8:37

because I always felt very supported in everything I

8:39

did. And if I was struggling

8:41

with something, the chance to ask for help

8:44

was always there. All

8:46

right, well, I think on that note, we'd better have

8:48

some more music, your second disc, if you would, Shaker,

8:51

what's it gonna be? Reversal of

8:53

Babylon by The Melodians. We

8:55

used to have this CD that

8:57

my dad had written in pen on

9:00

old Jamaica songs or something, I think. And all of

9:02

the tracks were listed as just like track one, track

9:04

two, track two, track three, track four. And this was,

9:07

I can't remember, like track three. But we knew the

9:09

name of this song. Some of the songs we

9:11

didn't know the names of necessarily.

9:13

And the sense of play with

9:15

a lot of that music was

9:17

also such a big part of

9:19

how we listened and how we talked about

9:22

it being open and listening. We do

9:25

a lot of listening to music and dancing, I

9:27

mean, we're listening in the car. And

9:29

that's how we did it. ["S

9:42

M Ke

10:03

The Melodians and Rivers of Babylon.

10:06

So, Shae Kukana Mason, you started learning

10:08

piano when you were five, following in

10:11

the footsteps of your big sister, Isata,

10:13

and then took up the violin. Now,

10:15

those instruments didn't take, why

10:17

not? Yeah, well,

10:19

I was having lessons at

10:22

the very beginning of learning the

10:24

violin and I think it

10:26

wasn't so in it and so those lessons

10:28

I think were difficult for both

10:30

of us, but particularly for my mum. So,

10:32

when did you realise that the cello was what you

10:35

wanted to do? It was seeing someone else play. Yeah,

10:38

I have a memory of seeing a youth

10:41

orchestra, not a youth orchestra when I was about

10:43

six years old, seeing the cello section really,

10:46

really appealed and then I asked my parents

10:48

if it was possible to learn the cello. And

10:50

what was it about the instrument that you

10:52

were excited by? I think

10:55

at that age, I'm not sure. I

10:57

think playing the violin probably seeing something that

10:59

had a richer range

11:02

of sounds and being able

11:04

to sit down and embrace the

11:06

cello seems much more natural

11:08

and enjoyable. You had a lot of support

11:10

at primary school, I know, in learning

11:13

music and secondary school too. What did both

11:15

schools do to nurture and support your talent?

11:18

Both at primary school and secondary school had like

11:21

concerts at the end of town where people

11:23

would play and I remember at my

11:25

primary school, everyone from year four

11:27

upwards would learn either trumpet, trombone

11:29

or clarinet. There were lots

11:31

of bands and music nights.

11:33

We'd walk into assembly every morning and the head teacher

11:36

would be playing on the CD

11:38

play or whatever it was, the A.M.R's

11:40

Bach Suites for example, and Wojak New

11:42

Weltz, I remember hearing that a lot.

11:46

I know that now you're a big advocate

11:48

for music education, you visit schools, perform to

11:50

kids. What do you get out of

11:52

those visits? I love those visits.

11:54

I was just in the US and

11:57

went to school in Philadelphia where

11:59

the just started a program of

12:01

everyone learning a string instrument and it

12:03

was incredibly moving to see a

12:05

room full of children learning an instrument for the

12:07

first time and sort of developing their relationship and

12:09

talking to them about it and then playing to

12:11

them and seeing from their questions and from their

12:14

actions what they were listening to and responding to

12:16

and what I love about it is the feeling

12:18

of confidence and

12:20

having each child having something that they can

12:23

do themselves and work out and explore and

12:25

listen and have this feeling of endless

12:28

creativity and exploration

12:31

but also the discipline and the

12:33

focus that is required to learn an instrument I

12:36

think is incredibly important

12:38

and centring and humbling. Budgets

12:40

are being cut and music education doesn't

12:42

necessarily feel like a priority today. How

12:44

do you feel about that? I'm

12:47

devastated. It's really a massive

12:50

disservice to our

12:52

children in this country. We're not

12:54

giving them access to quality music education.

12:56

You therefore create a massive divide

12:59

of people who have access to this and

13:01

you don't and that's I think very very

13:03

very unfair and that's why I think it's such

13:05

a shame. And you've expressed your gratitude to the

13:08

school that supported you when you were a kid.

13:10

You know you've put on concerts. Do you know

13:12

what they get to do with the money that

13:14

you've raised? For a while I funded

13:16

some cello lessons for students

13:18

there for a few years and

13:21

various things. I've been back to perform

13:23

and to talk to children hopefully as

13:25

an inspiration. I know in the music

13:27

department there there's lots of stuff about

13:29

myself and my family. It's a bit odd going

13:31

back to the school and having that there to be

13:33

honest but it's also like going to

13:36

your nan's house and all the very embarrassing

13:38

conversations. A little bit like that

13:40

but no it's really wonderful and I'm

13:42

so grateful to how supportive they were

13:44

of me and my family. All right Shaker

13:46

we've been talking about music and I've let hear some more.

13:49

Disc number three what have you got for us today? A

13:51

song called that by Pluto Sheffington. Again one I

13:53

listen to a lot as a child my dad

13:56

has the record and so he'd play that often.

13:58

For a while I think either the record probably was

14:00

broken or the rock off my scratch. The Easter. You

14:03

know, just a thing where it keeps repeating the

14:05

same, like few seconds, many, many, many times. So

14:08

now when I listen to that song, I always expect like a,

14:10

a few, a few

14:12

of the bits. Yeah, it's a great song. Pluto,

14:30

Shervington and Dat. Shaco,

14:45

Canay, Mason, when you were eight, you won

14:48

a scholarship to join the primary Academy of

14:50

the Royal Academy of Music in London and

14:52

had lessons there every Saturday. Now,

14:54

classical music is an extremely expensive pursuit

14:56

and your mum has said that every

14:58

penny she had went on music lessons,

15:00

travel instruments. She never bought new clothes,

15:02

wouldn't put the heating on during the

15:04

day, never changed the car. Were

15:07

you aware of the sacrifices that your parents were

15:09

making, not just for you, but for all of

15:11

your siblings? A lot

15:13

of the amount of different

15:15

sacrifices, I don't think I was necessarily aware of,

15:17

but now, yeah, I think the

15:20

level of commitment and love that my parents showed

15:23

to us, I think is remarkable.

15:26

As much as your parents were compassionate and

15:28

supportive, they weren't quite strict about certain things,

15:30

I think. They restricted your access to TV

15:32

as a kid and to the family computer

15:35

as well. Did you ever resent that, try

15:37

to get around it? Certainly

15:40

tried to get around it for sure. And

15:42

actually, yeah, with the, with the laptop, we

15:44

was only allowed to be used

15:46

for homework. And when it was, my

15:48

mum would have to come in and all my dad would

15:50

type the password for the laptop. And we

15:52

weren't allowed to see what the password was. And my mum would

15:54

come back in the room. And when my dad would do it,

15:56

he would type really, really quickly. So he didn't actually mind. We

15:58

could be in the room. to work it

16:00

up. My mum types incredibly slowly with

16:03

one finger and so we set

16:05

up a small camera above

16:07

the laptop and asked my mum to do the

16:09

password and so she came in and did the password and

16:12

then we watched the video back and we could decipher

16:14

very easily what it was and so then for a

16:17

while we had access to the laptop in

16:19

secret. Things like that. Did

16:21

your parents ever find out about that? I

16:25

think yeah, I think that laptop story for example,

16:27

I think we told them many,

16:29

many years later when that didn't matter.

16:31

I think that's something we did get caught

16:33

but it

16:36

was clear that my mum was always showing her

16:39

best and always showing love so to

16:41

then disobey that felt, felt good. My

16:43

dad was terrifying I think sometimes. I

16:46

mean all in a, you know, coming

16:49

from a place of love and making sure

16:51

that we understood why that

16:53

wasn't allowed. It's time

16:55

for your next piece of music Shaky. We've got to make

16:57

room for disc number four. What's it going to be? This

17:00

is Haydn's string quartet in C

17:02

major, a performance from

17:05

the London Haydn Quartet. And

17:07

why have you chosen it? I think Haydn's string

17:09

quartets and chamber music in general played a massive

17:11

and does play a massive part of my life.

17:13

I love the feeling of being in a

17:15

group with three, four, five,

17:17

four, whatever voices talking very

17:20

intimately. This piece, it's either

17:22

a shock in terms of how much it arrests

17:24

you or it's this

17:26

feeling of awe of how can something

17:29

be so magical and so precious.

17:31

Also the feeling of music that I think is

17:33

like out of

17:36

this world in the sense of like going beyond

17:38

like, I don't know, the imagination

17:40

of what I feel that I can like feel and

17:42

touch and see. I mean it's like beyond

17:44

that. you

18:44

part of the second movement of Haydn's string

18:47

quartet in C major, opus 20 number

18:49

2, performed by the London Haydn

18:51

Quartet. Shiku Kane

18:54

Mason, you and your brother and sisters

18:56

got a lot of positive attention growing

18:58

up, but you've also talked about experiencing

19:00

racial prejudice. What form did it take

19:02

and how did you deal with it? Very

19:05

often in the spaces that I was in

19:07

within classical music, myself and my

19:09

family were very often the only black

19:11

people in those ages and

19:14

that's, you know, most of the time

19:16

was fine in the sense of, you know, I felt

19:18

comfortable and all good. But yeah, there are

19:20

certainly occasions where my being black

19:22

was meant that I wasn't necessarily taken seriously

19:25

in the same situations. And also outside of

19:27

music, that's normal. So

19:31

in terms of those situations where you said you weren't

19:34

taken seriously, what not listened to, not

19:36

kind of included? Yeah, and often it's

19:38

as much as the look from some people

19:41

when you walk on. Okay,

19:43

so the subtler thing? I think most

19:46

often the subtler things, but

19:48

yeah, sometimes also much more

19:51

obvious. Are you talking from people

19:53

watching you perform or people in the

19:55

orchestras or? Not from

19:57

musicians that I was with or teachers

19:59

generally. from audience. And

20:01

what was your framework for understanding

20:04

that? Because especially when it's subtext rather

20:06

than something that somebody's actually saying, it's

20:08

a really big thing to get your

20:10

head around. Who did you talk

20:12

to about it and who helped you understand it?

20:15

My parents a lot. For sure.

20:17

What gave me the

20:19

strength in those situations is we've been in

20:21

a lot of time as children watching documentaries

20:23

of like real like black heroes

20:25

succeeding and being

20:28

challenged and overcoming those people

20:30

like Muhammad Ali. I think they

20:32

yeah were certainly a source of like

20:34

inspiration and understanding of those situations. And

20:37

unfortunately it is still something that

20:39

you have to deal with. Someone

20:41

recently posted a racist message on

20:43

social media after a proms performance

20:45

given by your sister Isata. The

20:47

family saw it. How did

20:50

that affect you? And how do you deal with

20:52

those comments today? The

20:54

isolated incidents in the moment

20:56

are offensive and affect

20:58

you but that's

21:00

something that one can deal with.

21:02

But I think the

21:05

long term effects I think can be something

21:07

that you're less aware of and more

21:09

difficult to deal with. How you

21:11

view yourself and how you are

21:13

valued and your confidence and how you

21:16

feel that you fit into the world.

21:18

I think that's where for me at

21:20

least. And how where are you up

21:22

with that? What's your perspective on that? It's

21:26

yeah something that I have to think about and examine

21:28

very often. I live in a

21:30

house with my brother and a friend

21:32

who's a mixed-race classical guitarist

21:35

from Brazil and the three

21:37

of us we talk about. There's a lot and I'm grateful

21:39

for the conversations that we have because yeah

21:41

you need to support people

21:44

like that because it's

21:46

hard to navigate yourself I think. It's

21:49

time for your next track Shae-Koo. What are you going

21:52

to take with you to the island next? There's

21:54

a song at B quite

22:01

frequently I find it is

22:03

very accepting and hopeful. Bob

22:36

Marley and Chances are Chez Couette

22:38

Canimason in 2016 you won the BBC Young

22:41

Musician of the Year competition. This was your

22:43

third go, it's held every other year so

22:45

that's quite a long held dream for one

22:47

who is so young. What does

22:50

it mean to you to finally win it? Yeah

22:52

it was a wonderful experience and opportunity

22:54

to, particularly in the final for example,

22:56

perform for a big audience on television

22:59

with a professional orchestra and the

23:01

experience of playing concerto. There

23:04

was a lot of commentary in the media after

23:06

you won because you were the first black musician

23:09

to win the competition. What did that first mean

23:11

to you? Yeah I was

23:13

very proud of that achievement and I

23:15

think what it means to me is hopefully to

23:17

inspire other young black children to see the cello

23:20

and classical music is something that they can go

23:22

on to do by seeing me. Yeah

23:25

that would be wonderful. And

23:27

there was a lot of celebration at home

23:29

in Nottingham and other council were absolutely delighted

23:31

to see you win and actually

23:33

did something to commemorate the victory.

23:36

That was quite extraordinary. Yeah they

23:38

named a bus like a public

23:40

bus after me and so I had like a picture of me

23:42

on the back and then on the front like my name. I

23:45

think it was the bus route that I would take to school

23:47

and so that was like a little bit embarrassing. So

23:50

you had to get on your own bus.

23:52

It was like the bus route would be

23:54

like every like seven or eight. buses

24:00

it would be amazing. No he had the

24:02

anxiety of not knowing it. But no it's

24:04

a massive it's

24:06

a massive honor of course. I mean you

24:09

know we're joking but there is a lot

24:11

of responsibility that comes alongside that level of

24:13

success. Is that ever uncomfortable or heavy

24:16

to carry for you? No

24:19

because I love music and

24:21

do genuinely care about it and so I'm glad

24:23

of the less

24:26

responsibility but opportunity to be able to share that with

24:28

people and I think that's something

24:30

I really really enjoy.

24:33

Speaking of which it's time for your next

24:35

disc. Number six what are we going to hear

24:37

and why are you taking it to the island? I'm

24:40

taking Mozart's Requiem. It's one of

24:42

those pieces that I

24:44

find incredibly stirring and

24:47

also very very comforting.

25:51

The opening of Mozart's Requiem in

25:53

D minor performed by the Monteverdi

25:55

Choir and the English Baroque soloists

25:57

conducted by John Elliott Gardner. Shaco

26:00

Canimason, you played the wedding of Prince Harry

26:03

and Meghan Markle, Winter Castle 2018.

26:05

What do you remember about actually playing at the ceremony? I

26:07

think they were signing the register and you did, was it

26:10

three pieces you played? Yeah, three pieces. I think at

26:12

the time of performing I was very much, I

26:15

don't know, it felt like very much just playing to

26:17

the people in the room. Of course, maybe somewhere I

26:19

was aware of the fact that it's broadcast around the

26:21

world. To billions. But then also the people in

26:23

the room to be fair, Shaco, I mean, we're

26:25

talking David Beckham, the

26:29

entire Royal Family. Yes,

26:32

yes. And many other luminaries.

26:34

I think in terms of like nervousness, I'd

26:37

be more nervous for my channel

26:39

lesson because I know that my teacher listens in a

26:41

certain way and a certain level of detail. So I

26:43

think, I guess what I'm

26:45

saying is the audience. Yeah, for

26:47

me, I'm grateful for them being there,

26:49

but I don't think who is there necessarily puts

26:53

something more, you know, as a more

26:55

of pressure event. But I suppose, yeah,

26:57

I'm still a very, very shy person

26:59

by nature. And that will always

27:01

be there. And last year

27:03

you performed at the last night of the

27:05

proms. What did it feel like playing such

27:07

a prominent role in this well-loved prestigious music

27:09

festival? Wonderful, wonderful feeling. And

27:12

as such a feeling

27:14

of celebration, I find that the

27:16

proms have performed. Many

27:18

times at the festival, I think generally

27:20

the festival has such a feeling of

27:22

celebration of music. And yeah, to be

27:25

a part of that is wonderful. It's

27:28

obviously been a lot of conversation, certain

27:30

amount of controversy around the rendition of

27:32

Royal Britannia at the last night. What's

27:35

your view on whether it should be included or not? I

27:38

don't think it should be included. And I didn't stay for

27:40

that. It's just my opinion. Why not? I

27:43

think maybe some people didn't

27:45

realize how uncomfortable a song like

27:47

that can make a lot of people feel,

27:49

even if it makes them feel good. I think that's

27:52

somehow a big misunderstanding about it.

27:56

What do you think it should be replaced with, if anything? What would

27:58

you like to do instead? There's so much wonderful British

28:02

music. I mean, like the wealth of folk music from

28:04

this country is astonishing. I think

28:06

that would be a wonderful thing to take its place. I mean,

28:09

yeah, there's so much that I think is worth

28:12

celebrating and having as part of a big

28:14

celebration at the end of a wonderful music

28:16

festival. Time for

28:18

disc number seven, Shae-Koo. What are we gonna hear

28:20

next and why? Shasta-Kabocha Symphony

28:24

number 11, an unbelievable

28:26

piece of music. I listened to it the first time,

28:28

I think I was about

28:31

14 or 15 and listened in bed

28:33

with me. And

28:36

listened to the whole symphony at once and couldn't

28:38

believe the journey that I'd been on

28:40

listening to, I think. I've never seen

28:42

it live, actually, I would love to hear it live but I

28:44

listened to this recording often, I think. Mm-hmm.

29:29

Mm-hmm. Part

29:49

of Shasta-Kabocha Symphony number 11

29:51

performed by the Moscow Philharmonic,

29:53

conducted by Kirill Kondrashin. Shae-Koo

29:57

Kanemason, you were diagnosed with type

29:59

1 diabetes. diabetes when you were 12. How

30:01

did you manage the diagnosis at such a

30:03

young age? The diagnosis

30:06

came as a shock

30:08

and all that comes with that

30:10

afterwards was all very new and

30:13

a lot to deal with. And then at that

30:15

age you're growing and changing and

30:17

so a lot of the management of the diabetes

30:19

is I think more, I'm trying

30:21

to get that time because your body's

30:23

changing. What you have to do has to be different

30:25

each day. As you get older and

30:27

it becomes a bit more stable and also much more used to

30:30

it than it's easier but it's

30:32

something that I constantly have to think about

30:34

and manage. Performing with it can

30:36

be a challenge because it would

30:38

be a massive shame

30:41

if my blood sugar would go low into

30:43

my hyper as I was playing. So do

30:46

you have to be very careful about that? I have to

30:48

be very careful about that and make sure that my blood

30:50

sugar's at a good level before I go on stage because

30:52

the adrenaline and the physicality and the focus of it can

30:54

cause it to decrease. It can cause it to decrease. the

30:57

day I've been managing my blood sugar and it's

30:59

a thing that I haven't accepted. I

31:07

haven't will always. You've

31:09

already achieved so much at just

31:11

24. I wonder what your

31:14

mindset is like these days having had

31:16

to develop such discipline and having achieved

31:18

so many goals. Is

31:20

that how you think now? Do you still have

31:22

more that you're striving for or are you in

31:24

a different place? There

31:27

are some very immediate things in terms of

31:29

always learning new pieces of music and that

31:31

keeps me constantly striving for. You'll never get

31:33

to the end of all that. Impossible and

31:35

as well with the pieces of music that

31:38

I already know to some level there's a

31:40

constant development with

31:42

that as well. There

31:45

are many projects that I would like to do

31:47

and there's a

31:49

youth orchestra in Antigua where

31:52

my grandparents are from. I

31:54

was set up six years ago that I sat up with my family

31:57

and the government there. I

32:00

would love for there to be

32:02

a concert hall on the island and for that

32:04

to become one of the senses of classical music

32:06

and in the world, that's like a ambition

32:09

of mine that I would like to see. Shae-Koo,

32:12

the last few years have been

32:14

difficult for classical music and classical

32:17

musicians, obviously the pandemic, cuts to

32:19

opera companies and orchestras, audiences that

32:21

are aging as well. How

32:23

worried do you feel about the future

32:25

of classical music? The

32:28

future of classical music is something that one needs

32:30

to fight for and talk about

32:32

and hopefully sort of be a part of. But

32:34

I think the young musicians that

32:37

I see all the time fill

32:40

me with a lot of confidence

32:42

in the future of classical music,

32:45

but it will require a lot of

32:47

work in many different areas. I'm

32:49

certainly confident in its future, however it will

32:52

look like. And obviously

32:54

we're about to cast your way to the island. What

32:56

will you miss most, do you think? Family,

32:59

friends, just people to interact

33:01

and share with. If I

33:03

think about most of the experiences in my

33:06

lifetime, really,

33:08

really, really enjoyed. It

33:10

will take me a while to think of ones that happened on

33:12

my own. Well, Shae-Koo,

33:14

we've got your company for one more disc

33:17

before we cast you away. So what

33:19

are we going to hear? What's your last choice today? This

33:21

is the Lago from one

33:24

of Bach's organ sonatas. It's

33:26

played by the pianist Samuel Feinberg, and

33:29

it's magical. Thank

33:55

you. you

34:32

Mark's Organ Sonata No. 5 in

34:34

C Major, played on the piano

34:36

by Samuel Feinberg So,

34:39

Shakyukana Mason, I'm going to send you away to

34:41

the islands now, I'm giving you the Bible, the

34:43

complete works of Shakespeare and you can take one

34:45

other book. What will that be? Richard

34:48

Feynman, the Lecture on Physics, which I've

34:50

not read before, so yeah,

34:52

I think I would learn a lot. Well

34:55

that'll sharpen up your scientific perspective on the

34:57

island. It will, yeah, exactly. That's

34:59

yours. You can also have a luxury item, what's that going

35:01

to be? Coachella, it certainly would be

35:03

that. I'm not sure how it's going to survive on an

35:05

island though, like if I break a string. I'm going to

35:07

have to give you something. I think I can throw in.

35:09

Can you throw in a few things? I

35:12

think I'm throwing in, I think. Yeah, and some hairs for the bow.

35:15

Okay, so some more terms and strings. Yeah,

35:17

thank you very much. And

35:19

finally, which one track of the eight that you

35:21

shared with us today would you say from the

35:23

waves? I

35:25

would go from Mozart's Requiem. Having something with

35:27

voices can communicate something that's really,

35:29

really, really powerful and I think that piece

35:32

has so much in it, so

35:34

much wonder and awe and it's,

35:36

yeah, I would say, Mozart's

35:38

Requiem. I would probably change my

35:40

mind as soon as I leave this. You

35:43

would get to save that one and then wade back

35:45

over the others. Yeah, I can dive into this. I'm

35:47

not a very good swimmer. Oh

35:50

no, there's no escape plan for you. There's really

35:52

no escape. You'll be all right. You've got your

35:54

cello. Shake a can

35:57

of Mason. Thank you very much.

36:00

much for letting us hear your desert island discs.

36:02

It's a pleasure, thank you. Hello,

36:25

I hope you enjoyed my conversation with

36:27

Shae Koo. I'm sure his cello will

36:29

bring him much happiness and comfort on

36:32

the island. We've cast away many musicians

36:34

including one of Shae Koo's heroines, Jacqueline

36:36

Dupree and Yo-Yo Ma, and the Penis,

36:38

Steven Hoff and Mitsuko Uchida. You can

36:41

find these episodes in our Desert Island

36:43

Discs program archive and through BBC Sounds.

36:45

The studio manager for today's program was

36:47

Emma Hart, the assistant producer was Christine

36:50

Pavlovski and the producer was Paula McGinley.

36:52

The series editor is John Gowdy. Next

36:54

time my guest will be the actor Jamie

36:57

Dornan. I do

37:00

hope you'll

37:02

join us.

37:04

I'm Tom

37:11

Heap and I'm Helen Cheriski, a journalist

37:13

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