June 2026 Sunriver Scene - Flipbook - Page 33
Acclaimed pianist to open Sunriver Music Festival’s concert season
By Jon F. Thompson
What does a genius look like?
It might look a lot like
Sunriver Music Festival’s guest
artist Michelle Cann, a twotime Grammy-winner and one
of the most sought-after artists
of her generation.
She is visiting Central Oregon
for Sunriver Music Festival’s
opening concert Aug.10, at
which she will perform Ludwig
van Beethoven’s beloved Piano
Concerto No. 4 in G Major.
Cann doesn’t just play piano.
She dominates it as
she uses it to extract every
scintilla of meaning of the
composer’s intent.
That’s a factor that makes
her special.
Another factor is that while
she plays, she also listens.
“She’s a diligent performer
and an incredibly sensitive
musician, a real collaborator.
She makes chamber music with
the orchestra. She listens to the
orchestra and responds to it,
just as the orchestra responds
to her,” artistic director and
conductor of Sunriver Music
Festival Brett Mitchell said.
Mitchell said he finds Cann
to be “an artist’s artist. She’s a
probing personality, someone
who asks a lot of questions.
So many pianists are interested in flash for flash’s sake.
She has flash, but she’s deeper
than that.”
There’s more to an exceptional performance than just playing the music, Mitchell noted,
SINCE 1976
himself a formidable pianist.
“If your sound stays the same
from one composer to the next,
that’s a case of making the composer serve you,” Mitchell said.
“Michelle is intent on serving
the composer. If I heard 10
pianists playing Mozart, for
instance, I certainly could pick
out Michelle.”
Cann’s ability to probe the
intent of composers as diverse
as Mozart and Florence Price,
a Black 20th-century American
composer, is especially impressive because their styles are
so different.
“The musical material is so
different. The extraordinary
thing is that they require such
different musicians to perform
them. Just because you can
perform one doesn’t mean you
can perform the other. The fact
that Michelle can do both in an
equally convincing fashion is a
testament to her musicianship,”
Mitchell said.
“I think Beethoven’s Fourth
is my favorite Beethoven piano
concerto, the most special,”
Mitchell said. “I can’t wait
for everyone to experience
her work.”
Cann is not only just a
spectacular artist.
She’s also an accomplished
scholar who holds bachelor’s
and master’s degrees in piano
performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music.
She teaches at the Curtis
School of Music in Philadelphia, where she holds the El-
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Reserve your tickets for
Cann's performance
Cann will perform with the
Festival Orchestra during the
Sunriver Music Festival’s opening concert on Monday, Aug.
10, at 7:30 p.m. in the Sunriver
Resort Great Hall.
In addition to Beethoven’s
Piano Concerto in G Major, the concert will celebrate
America’s 250th anniversary by
performing Joan Tower’s Made
in America and Joseph Haydn’s
Symphony No. 101 in D Major, “The Clock.”
Ticket information
Tickets for all Sunriver Music
PHOTO COURTESY TITILAYO AYANGADE
Festival’s August season concerts
are available at sunrivermusic. Sunriver Music Festival’s guest artist Michelle Cann is a twotime Grammy-winning artist.
org or call 541-593-1084.
The festival opens Aug.
10 at the Sunriver Resort
Great Hall and closes Aug.
20 at the Tower Theatre in
downtown Bend.
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JUNE 2026 SUNRIVER SCENE
Page 33
