Ravinia 2024 Issue 2

a compressed symphony: moderately fast, scherzo, slow “love” theme, and toccata finale. Gershwin’s combination of solo piano and larger ensemble, not to mention the ritornello theme (heard after the opening clarinet wail), suggests obvious connections to the concerto. Sheer melodic abundance disguises the care- ful unity of Gershwin’s themes. All utilize the blues scale (major and minor thirds and minor seventh), and two share a common syncopat- ed rhythm. The exact sequence and selection of themes varies considerably in different per- forming versions, raising the perplexing ques- tion: What exactly constitutes the Rhapsody in Blue? This nebulous situation existed from the very origins of the work and has persisted to the present day. Gershwin left three recordings, two with Whiteman’s ensemble and one piano roll recorded in two sessions. The “orchestral” ver- sions have been significantly abridged, while the piano version gives a more complete rendition. Leonard Bernstein, in his Joy of Music , catego- rized the numerous possible alterations of this score and commented that “ Rhapsody in Blue is not a real composition in the sense that whatev- er happens in it must seem inevitable, or even pretty inevitable.” Oddly, the clearest yet most sterile definition of this “piece” exists in copyright law: six melodies and a motivic tag, any one of which constitutes the Rhapsody in Blue . Listeners over the past seven-plus decades have defined this music in other terms—an American classic! This year, musicians and audiences around the world cele- brate its centenary. –Program notes © 2024 Todd E. Sullivan George Gershwin MICHELLE CANN Michelle Cann has become one of the most sought-after pianists of her generation. She made her debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2021 and has recently performed concertos with the Cleveland Orchestra, National Sym- phony Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfônica Munici- pal de São Paulo, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Atlanta, Baltimore, and Cincinnati Symphony Orcehstras. Highlights of Cann’s 2023–24 season include appearances with the Charlotte, Hawaii, Indianapolis, Québec, Sarasota, and Winnipeg Symphony Orchestras, as well as recitals in New York City, Portland, Berkeley, Beverly Hills, and Denver. She also has teaching and performance residencies at the University of Indiana South Bend and Meany Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Washington. Recog- nized as a leading interpreter of the piano mu- sic of Florence Price, Cann performed the New York City premiere of Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement with The Dream Unfinished Or- chestra in July 2016 and the Philadelphia pre- miere with the Philadelphia Orchestra in Feb- ruary 2021. Her recording of the concerto with the New York Youth Symphony won a Grammy Award in 2023 for Best Orchestral Performance. Her acclaimed debut solo album Revival , fea- turing music by Price and Margaret Bonds, was released in May 2023. She has also recorded two Price piano quintets with the Catalyst Quartet. A celebrated chamber musician, Cann has fur- ther collaborated with leading artists such as the Dover and Juilliard String Quartets, violinists Timothy and Nikki Chooi, and cellist Thom- as Mesa. Cann was the recipient of the 2022 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, the highest hon- or bestowed by the Sphinx Organization. She also received the Cleveland Institute of Music’s 2022 Alumni Achievement Award and the 2022 Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award. 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. Cann joined the Curtis piano faculty in 2020 as the inaugural Eleanor Sokoloff Chair in Piano Studies, and she joined the pia- no faculty of the Manhattan School of Music in 2023. Michelle Cann is making her Ravinia and Chicago Symphony Orchestra debuts. MASABANE CECILIA RANGWANASHA Rising star soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwa- nasha won the Song Prize at the 2021 BBC Car- diff Singer of the World Competition and is a current BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist. In 2023–24, Rangwanasha debuts with Washing- ton National Opera and Hamburg State Opera as Liù in Puccini’s Turandot , a role she will also perform with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on tour in Japan. In concert, she de- buts with the London and Chicago Symphony Orchestras in Mendelssohn’s Elijah . Further ap- pearances include Verdi’s Requiem for her At- lanta Symphony Orchestra debut and returns to the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and The Hallé for Rossini’s Stabat Mater. Last sea- son, Rangwanasha received critical acclaim for her return to Covent Garden as Liù, as well as at Theater Bern as Mathilde in Rossini’s Guillaume Tell and in the title role of Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride . In concert, she made her US debut with the National Symphony Orchestra in Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 , which she reprised with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and also sang Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 2 with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Bee- thoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Mahler’s Das Kla- gende Lied at Theater Bern, Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder with the National Youth Orchestra at the BBC Proms, and Tippett’s A Child of Our Time with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for her Edinburgh Festival debut. Previous high- lights include Élisabeth de Valois in Verdi’s Don Carlos and Elettra in Mozart’s Idomeneo at The- ater Bern, Verdi’s Requiem with the BBC Sym- phony at the First Night of the Proms, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with the Orchestra Age of Enlightenment, Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Sym- phony with the Hallé Orchestra, Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder at Opéra National de Bordeaux, and a performance as part of Classic FM Live at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha is making her Ravinia debut. MARIN ALSOP, Ravinia Chief Conductor For Marin Alsop’s biography, see page 72. RAVINIAMAGAZINE • JULY 1 – JULY 21, 2024 76 JIYANGCHEN(CANN);VERAELMAVACEK(RANGWANASHA)