Michelle Cann


Michelle Cann is an American Grammy Award–winning classical pianist. She is a lead interpreter of the music of Florence Price.

Early life and education

Michelle Cann was born in North Carolina, but moved to Avon Park, Florida as a young child. She was born to a musical family, as her sister Kimberly is also a concert pianist. She began piano lessons at the age of seven, but didn’t fall in love with music until she was twelve. Cann made her orchestra debut at age 14. She attended the Cleveland Institute of Music, but ultimately graduated with an Artist's Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

Career

After graduation, she was on the faculty at Curtis, and later held the Eleanor Sokoloff chair. She was also an instructor at the Luzerne Music Center and is a teacher at the Manhattan School of Music.
In 2016, Cann premiered Florence Price's "Piano Concerto in One Movement" with the Dream Unfinished Orchestra, and later with the Philadelphia Orchestra with maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting. In 2023, her recording with the New York Youth Symphony won the Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance.
Revival, her debut album, featured music by both Price and Margaret Bonds. It was released in May 2023 on the Curtis Studio label. Cann recorded both Price piano quintets with the Catalyst Quartet and commissioned the album Our Stories with cellist Tommy Mesa. Cann has additionally collaborated with the Catalyst Quartet, Juilliard String Quartet, Dover Quartet, Imani Winds, Timothy Chooi, Nikki Chooi, Karen Slack, and J’Nai Bridges, among many others.
As a soloist, Cann has regular engagements with orchestras that include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, and Orquestra Sinfônica Municipal de São Paulo. She holds the Sphinx Medal of Excellence and an Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award.
In 2025, she won, in collaboration with Karen Slack, the Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album for the album, Beyond the Years - Unpublished Songs of Florence Price.

Awards