Biography
Piano
Michelle Cann
Michelle Cann has appeared with the Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony, and the São Paulo Municipal Symphony. Her honors include the Sphinx Medal of Excellence and the Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award. In 2024 she was named the inaugural Christel DeHaan Artistic Partner of the American Pianists Association. She makes her San Francisco Symphony debut with this program.
A leading interpreter of Florence Price, Cann recorded Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement with the New York Youth Symphony, which won a Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance. Her solo debut album, Revival, featuring music by Price and Margaret Bonds, was released in May 2023 on the Curtis Studio label. With soprano Karen Slack, she recorded Beyond the Years, featuring 19 unpublished songs composed by Price.
Cann holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and an artist’s diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music. She joined the Curtis piano faculty in 2020 as the inaugural Eleanor Sokoloff Chair in Piano Studies and is also on the piano faculty of the Manhattan School of Music.
A leading interpreter of Florence Price, Cann recorded Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement with the New York Youth Symphony, which won a Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance. Her solo debut album, Revival, featuring music by Price and Margaret Bonds, was released in May 2023 on the Curtis Studio label. With soprano Karen Slack, she recorded Beyond the Years, featuring 19 unpublished songs composed by Price.
Cann holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and an artist’s diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music. She joined the Curtis piano faculty in 2020 as the inaugural Eleanor Sokoloff Chair in Piano Studies and is also on the piano faculty of the Manhattan School of Music.
