AMERICAN MASTERS: COPLAND, GERSHWIN & PRICE

Concert over - Video on Demand link HERE

The Reno Phil opened the 57th season of Classix with some of the most celebrated American composers - Gershwin, Copland, and Price. In the pursuit of artistry, pianist Michelle Cann brought her breathtaking virtuosity to the irrepressible jazz rhythms of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, which garnered immediate acclaim for breaking the boundaries between classical and jazz. Even more than 100 years later, it has still not lost its luster. This beloved work is the centerpiece of a journey through America’s musical heartland that also features the long-lost Piano Concerto by pioneering African American composer Florence Price—a jazzy, soulful masterwork Cann has championed since its remarkable rediscovery. Begrudgingly known as the “Dean of American Composers,” Copland’s well-known works will bookend the concert.  

Michelle Cann is represented by Curtis Artist Management at Curtis Institute of Music. 

ON THE PROGRAM

Aaron Copland Fanfare for the Common Man 
Florence Price Piano Concerto (in One Movement) 
George Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue  
Aaron Copland Appalachian Spring: Suite  

LAURA JACKSON
CONDUCTOR

MICHELLE CANN, PIANO

Lauded as “exquisite” by The Philadelphia Inquirer and “a pianist of sterling artistry” by Gramophone, GRAMMY Award winning pianist Michelle Cann is one of the most sought-after artists of her generation. Recent engagements include appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. 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 Piano Awards, responsible for artistic oversight of the competition. Highlights of Cann’s 2024-25 season include appearances with the San Francisco Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony, and London’s Philharmonia Orchestra. She performs solo and collaborative recitals on prominent series such as the 92nd Street Y, New York; Duke University; the Royal Conservatory of Music; and Shriver Hall Concert Series. She also performs a recital as the headline artist at the National Conference of the Music Teachers National Association. Recognized as a leading interpreter of the piano music of Florence Price, Cann performed the New York City premiere of Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement with The Dream Unfinished Orchestra in 2016. Her recording of the concerto with the New York Youth Symphony won a GRAMMY Award in 2023 for Best Orchestral Performance. She won a GRAMMY Award in 2025 for Beyond the Years: Unpublished Songs of Florence Price, recorded with soprano Karen Slack, which features 19 unpublished songs composed by Price. Her acclaimed debut solo album Revival, featuring music by Price and Margaret Bonds, was released in 2023. Cann holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano performance 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. She is also on the piano faculty of the Manhattan School of Music.