Review: The Kanneh-Mason siblings perform for the Schubert Club's 140th anniversary

Sorry that the Kanneh-Masons had to miss the coronation, Your Majesty. They were otherwise engaged.

Yes, one of the seven classical musician siblings from Nottingham, England, cellist Sheku, played at the royal wedding of Harry and Meghan in 2018, but for this weekend's House of Windsor festivities, the Kanneh-Masons had somewhere to be in St. Paul. They were marking the 140^th anniversary of Minnesota's oldest arts organization, the Schubert Club, with the first (and perhaps only) American performance by the consummate family that plays together.

It was a well-attended party at the Ordway Music Theater for a matinee full of chamber music and solo works from a group that successfully introduced many younger Brits to classical music during a 2015 run on TV's "Britain's Got Talent."

And it's easy to understand why an audience as knowledgeable as the Schubert Club's chose to stand at the end of Sunday afternoon's concert. For here was hope incarnate that this musical genre won't go extinct within a generation or two. Heck, Sheku and pianist Isata have even placed albums on the pop charts on their side of the pond.

But it's tricky putting together a program that adapts itself to the talents of seven musicians between the ages of 13 and 26 who are clearly at varied points in their educations and careers. The group handled that pretty well, giving the youngest musicians solo turns, yet also offering Sheku and Isata opportunities to demonstrate why they're being booked as soloists with many of the world's great orchestras.

Those two have already presented their own Schubert Club International Artist Series recitals, Isata not only accompanying Sheku on one, but returning for a solo piano recital. If you're seeking a promising third Kanneh-Mason to find success as a solo artist, Sunday's concert left me looking toward pianist Jeneba, who made 20^th-century American composer Florence Price's Fantasie negre No. 1 in E minor a captivating combination of the blues and European classical traditions. She displayed both power and nuance through some very challenging passages.

Also displaying arresting lyricism at the piano was her older sister Konya on a haunting chamber arrangement of the lovely slow movement from Dmitri Shostakovich's Second Piano Concerto.

But there were star turns, too, particularly when Sheku took the stage alone after intermission for a solo suite by 20^th-century Spanish composer Gaspar Cassado. Here was an entrancing, emotionally layered performance, full of confidence and a deep sense of commitment.

Would that the eldest of the Kanneh-Masons, Isata, had seized the day with such passion. Instead, she chose to sub out a Sergei Rachmaninoff arrangement of a movement from Felix Mendelssohn's music for "A Midsummer Night's Dream" with one of Mendelssohn's "Songs Without Words" that seemed disappointingly inconsequential. And I had quite mixed feelings about the group's own arrangement of reggae giant Bob Marley's moving farewell to the world, "Redemption Song," for which some of the musicians seemed to grasp its gravitas more than others.

Ah, but this was all about celebrating an anniversary, and, in that regard, the concert came through with flying colors. Sorry you missed it, King Charles.