Art of Piano Concert: Michelle Cann & Art of Piano Musicians

Celebrated as “exquisite” by the Philadelphia Inquirer and a “pianist of exceptional talent” 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, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra, and the São Paulo Municipal Symphony Orchestra. She has received the Sphinx Medal of Excellence and the Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award, and was the inaugural Christel DeHaan Artistic Partner of the American Piano Awards.

Highlights of Cann’s 2025–2026 season include performances with the Colorado Symphony, the New Jersey Symphony, the Kansas City Symphony, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. She also gives the world premiere of a new piano concerto by Valerie Coleman with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. Her recital engagements include Stanford Live, Music Toronto, Chamber Music Detroit, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Spivey Hall, and a recital tour in China.

Recognized as one of the leading interpreters of Florence Price’s piano music, Cann gave the New York 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 She won another Grammy Award in 2025 for Beyond the Years: Unpublished Songs of Florence Price, recorded with soprano Karen Slack, featuring 19 previously unpublished songs by Price. Her acclaimed debut solo album, Revival, featuring works by Price and Margaret Bonds, was released in 2023.

Cann holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and an artist diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music. She joined the piano faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music in 2020 as the first holder of the Eleanor Sokoloff Chair in Piano Studies, and she also teaches piano at the Manhattan School of Music.

Image by Titilayo Ayangade.

Nikita Istratov was generously supported by the Helen Graham Artist Award.

Nikita Istratov has been playing piano since the age of 6 under the tutelage of Elena Istratova. He completed high school in Portland, OR. He is now in his second year of college, studying piano on scholarship under Dr. Alexandre Dossin. In high school, he was selected as a U.S. Presidential Scholars Candidate and won a National Merit Scholarship. Also in high school, he performed at Weill Recital Hall in New York twice, as well as Steinway Hall, and won first prize at the 2021 Pittsburgh International Piano Competition.

Nikita recently received the University of Oregon’s competitive First-Year Research Award to study and perform under-represented female composer music. In the summer of 2025, he was selected as a winner of All Classical Radio’s inaugural Access Recording Project to present a solo recital at the Irving Levin Performance Hall in December 2025. He is a member of the student staff of the Oregon Piano Institute, responsible for program research and student outreach.

In August 2025, Nikita attended the 2025 Gijón International Piano Festival. At the festival, Nikita learned immensely from the teachings of Prof. Robert McDonald, Prof. Logan Skelton, and Prof. Amy Lin. 

Peng Lin was generously supported by the Helen Graham Artist Award.

Peng Lin is the recipient of the 2025 Vigo International Piano Competition’s Piotr Anderszewski Prize and First Prize at the 2023 Massarosa International Piano Competition.. She made her New York Lincoln Center debut in 2015 with the Juilliard Orchestra, conducted by Peter Oundjian. She has been a laureate of prestigious competitions, including Rhodes International Piano Competition, Rina Sala Gallo International Piano Competition and UK Open Piano International Piano Competition. Her performances have taken her to acclaimed venues such as Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Weill Hall, and Shanghai Concert Hall. She has also appeared at major festivals including Aspen Music Festival, Sarasota Music Festival and Taos Chamber Music Festival.

Born in Kulangsu, China’s ‘piano island’, Peng Lin made her orchestral debut at age nine. At sixteen, she received a full scholarship to attend the Juilliard School, where she earned both Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees. She continued her education at the Yale School of Music (MMA), the Royal College of Music in London (Artist Diploma), and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, graduating with the highest distinction under Benedetto Lupo. Her principal mentors include Dmitri Alexeev, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Hung-Kuan Chen, Benedetto Lupo and Peter Serkin.

Peng Lin was generously supported by the Isobel and Tom Rolston Fellowships in Music Endowment.

Étienne Caron was generously supported by the Fondation David R. Graham Award.

Étienne Caron began his piano studies at an early age with Branka Balevic-Gasparian, then with Yves Henry at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional (CRR) of Paris. 

After studying on a physics bachelor, he was admitted to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP) in 2021 in the piano class of Denis Pascal, where he completes his studies this year. He also joined the advanced cycles in Musical Analysis under the guidance of Thomas Lacôte, as well as in Chamber Music in the class of Claire Désert and Louis Rodde. 
In 2022, he was awarded Third Prize at the Albert Roussel International Competition at Salle Cortot, and in 2024 he received the Second Prize “Chopin” at the Brest International Competition. He was selected to the prestigious Bach-Wettbewerb in Leipzig in 2025. 

He is the recipient of the Søren Le Schmidt – Château de Courgent Prize at the French Connection Academy in Denmark, which offers him a collaboration with the renowned fashion designer. 

Since 2022, he has formed a duo with baritone Pierre-Yves Cras. Together, they won the Grand Prize and seven special prizes at the International Art Song Competition of Gordes in 2024. 

Étienne Caron performs regularly as a soloist and chamber musician in prestigious venues such as the Alte Börse in Leipzig, Salle Cortot in Paris, the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, the Théâtre Impérial de Compiègne, as well as the Opéras of Grand Avignon and Montpellier. 

Étienne Caron is one of the young artists supported by the Safran Foundation for Music.

Aaron Kurz was generously supported by the Marek Jablonski Piano Endowment.

Engaging audiences with his charismatic and moving performances, pianist Aaron Kurz enjoys a burgeoning career. Aaron has soloed with numerous orchestras and across three continents, in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Salle Cortot, and the Palace of Peace and Harmony in Kazakhstan. His performances have been lauded by the press, called both “nuanced musical journeys” (Belgium’s Le Soir) and “a lesson in pianism” (England’s Cambridge Independent). Most recently, Aaron completed a tour of Asia, where he performed and taught at various venues across China and Indonesia. He is poised to return to the region for another tour in Autumn 2026. 

Aaron’s playing has also garnered recognition in competitions, winning top prizes in the New York, Los Angeles, Virginia Waring, and World Piano Teachers Association International Piano Competitions, among others. He has performed extensively across North America, Europe, and Asia, soloing with numerous orchestras, including the Fort Worth Symphony, City of Cambridge Symphony Orchestra, Shanxi Shuozilun Symphony (China), and Central Texas Philharmonic.

Aaron holds recent degrees from SFCM (studying with Jon Nakamatsu and Jeremy Denk), Yale (Boris Berman), and RCM (Norma Fisher and Ian Jones), and he is now pursuing his DMA at the University of Texas with Anton Nel. 

Yue Zhang was generously supported by the Helen Graham Artist Award.

Yue Zhang has performed widely as both a soloist and chamber musician, giving numerous recitals, chamber concerts, and concerto performances, and sharing her music with diverse audiences in China, Europe, and beyond. She graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing with both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Piano Performance, studying under Professor Ling Zhao. She is currently pursuing her Doctoral degree at Boston University with a full scholarship, studying with Professor Boaz Sharon.

As a soloist, Yue has performed Beethoven Piano Concerto with the National Concert Hall Orchestra and premiered a piano concerto by Tan Dun with the China NCPA Orchestra. Her solo recitals at Beijing Zhongshan Concert Hall and Tours City Hall (France) have been praised for their profound musicality. She earned the Silver Medal in Solo Piano Performance at the Saint Petersburg International Music Competition, where she also delivered a captivating recital. In recognition of her contributions to the arts, she was honored as a Distinguished Artist by the NCPA.

Beyond her solo career, Yue is a sought-after chamber musician, performing extensively repertoire covering diverse musical styles and invited to perform on tours in Luxembourg, France, Macau, Beijing and other venues. Her 2020 recording of Brahms Piano Chamber Music, released by Beijing Universal Music, was acclaimed for its exquisite interpretation. With a deep respect for tradition and a passion for innovation, she continuously explores new musical forms while preserving classical artistry.