BBC Music Magazine Awards 2026
Shortlisted - Newcomer

Jeneba Kanneh-Mason (piano)

Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 35 'Marche funèbre'
Chopin: Nocturne No. 7 in C sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 1
Chopin: Nocturne No. 8 in D flat major, Op. 27 No. 2
Price, F: Fantasie nègre No. 1 in E minor
Bonds: Troubled Water
Still, W G: Three Visions: II. Summerland
Debussy: La fille aux cheveux de lin (from Préludes - Book 1: No. 8)
Debussy: Bruyères (from Préludes - Book 2)
Scriabin: Prelude, Op. 11 No. 1 in C major
Scriabin: Prelude, Op. 11 No. 11 in B major
Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in G sharp minor, Op. 19 'Sonata Fantasy'

Jeneba Kanneh-Mason has a passion for curating programmes that cross diverse musical landscapes, and on her debut solo album Fantasie, she takes listeners on a journey that explores connections across different composers’ sound worlds – whether they met, influenced each other, or simply existed in resonance. She is a musician deeply committed to her craft, relishing the challenges of performance and recording and dedicated to her audience, whether in the concert hall or via her recordings and is a talented young artist for whom mastery isn’t just technical but emotional too.

"Kanneh-Mason never takes a musical idea and beats you around the head with it: if anything, it feels improvised and throwaway. It’s refreshing to have a young musician not deliver something in a way that feels overdeveloped and laboured." - BBC Music Magazine, April 2025