Piano player Michelle Cann will perform a recital at Harris Hall on Monday night for the Aspen Music Festival and School. The program is called “Women of Chicago’s Black Renaissance,” featuring music by Florence Price, Margaret Bonds, Irene Britton Smith and Betty Jackson King.
Cann’s connection to the music started in 2016 with Price, a prolific but lesser-known composer from the 1930s. Given her own extensive studies of music history, Cann said she was surprised she hadn’t heard of Price before — and felt inspired to dig into the history of other black female composers from the era too.
“I knew that I needed to do more than just share Florence Price’s story,” Cann said. “I had to share any story and all stories that I could and share their music as well.”
Reporter Kaya Williams spoke with Cann about the history of these composers as well as what it means to Cann to celebrate their music almost a century later.
The stories enhance the music, but the music alone will change you.Pianist Michelle Cann, on music by female composers of Chicago's Black Renaissance
Kaya Williams: You have a deep background in music history, but you’ve suggested you were surprised to learn about Florence Price and her contemporaries. Why do you think it was that these composers weren’t very well known?
Michelle Cann: One of the biggest problems and I think obstacles that were in the way for composers like Florence Price and Margaret Bonds and the others on my program was that they were living and trying to excel in a period that was pushing back against the idea of composers being anything but white men.
I mean, you had this period, especially in the ‘20s, and ‘30s, where even if you were a woman of any race, this was not the career for you. Now, you're bringing in the fact that they were Black female composers. So they had two obstacles and competition of how many people tried to make it as composers in America at the time.
When you look at where they were and where we are now, what's so important in terms of being able to get your story and your music out there is publishing. Many of these composers that you will hear, struggled to get almost anything published. And even for Florence Price, who wrote over 200 compositions, only a fraction of those things were published in her lifetime.
So if it's not published, that means it's not mass-produced, that means it's not being shared all over the country. And so eventually, when the composer passes — unless they have, you know, whether it's the family or a foundation or something that's doing that work to sort of right those wrongs, and make sure the music's getting out there — well, of course, the music disappears with them.
I'm just so happy that musicians such as myself and others, have now been inspired and able to share this music with the world and tell these stories in the ways that they should have been, while these composers were still alive.
Williams: And what’s the audience reaction when they learn about these composers and hear the music?
Cann: Their stories, their biographies alone are very compelling. It's very inspiring to see what they were able to achieve, even though there were obstacles, as I mentioned earlier, put right there to keep them from moving forward. It's still incredible what they did achieve.
So I think if I came and just gave a talk about these composers, you would leave feeling like you were so glad you were there, to just know these women, you know, know their names and know about them. But that's what makes this so special. You will get that and I will talk about these composers. But what you're going to get, more than that, is you are going to get some incredibly beautiful and meaningful music.
So even if I didn't tell a single word of their story, and you knew nothing, if this was a surprise concert in which you didn't know anything about the composer at all, no one even told you who wrote it, you just came and said, I'm coming to hear some good music, you would leave changed. Because the music, all of it, it's so soulful it is so — you can tell the writing was inspired from the heart, and from real life and lived experiences.
And it's familiar in a lot of ways. You hear a lot of folk music, and you hear spirituals and Black American folk music and dances, and so then you feel, constantly, like you've heard this melody before, or you know this dance, or whatever. There's so much that they infuse in their writing that is very familiar, that, again, you can't help but smile or tap your foot. And to me, that is why we all come to concerts. It's why I love what I do as a piano performer. Because it's about the music. It's about the music.
The stories enhance the music, but the music alone will change you.
Williams: You yourself are a black female musician. Do you feel a sense of responsibility, in some way, to share the stories and the music of these composers?
Cann: I think we all have a responsibility, in a way, especially once we know things. But for me, I'm proud to have it. Now I know what I didn't know before, just how many black women came before me and pushed through in the field, a field that did not want to accept them at that time, and that still has its struggles. But they pushed through and wrote all of this very important music. And so now, for me to know it, gives so much power to being part of this field.
You know, it's that whole idea of like, “The world should be this way.” Right? OK, well, we can all say that, but the question is, “What is the actual reality?”
I don't see myself as having the only responsibility to share stories such as this, I think we all have a responsibility to be looking within ourselves and outside of ourselves and seeing, how can we make a difference?
Sometimes that difference can be as simple as, let's say, you know, you hear or you come to this concert, and there's a piece you like, because it's a great piece. And then you say, “Hey, you know what? Let me share this with my student.” And that student now knows a little bit about this composer. And then that student tells their friend, and now their friend wants to play the piece.
There's a ripple effect when you are sharing these stories and music of all composers regardless of race and gender.
And so, for me, I see it as a responsibility because I was given the knowledge. You know, I did this research, I found out about these people. It inspired me, and there's no way that I could just sit on it. And so therefore, it's like, “Hey, look, I was so inspired by this, I want you to be as well. Take this and share this with your community.”
Everyone wants to be able to look around and not feel like they're the only one that looks like them in a space. I'm thinking about the six year old child who's starting piano right now, goes through the piano lessons, and they're given all these different little pieces to play, and never once in their childhood, are they given anything by a Black composer. What does that tell them?
When I was little, I didn't even believe that black composers wrote classical music. I thought they only wrote jazz and religious music and things like that. I just did not even think that — maybe I didn't understand it, but I didn't think we existed in this world. And to find out that not only did we exist, we actually existed in pretty significant numbers. There's no way I can sit on that.
When we share this knowledge, we are passing this on to future generations to change the landscape.
Cann’s performance of music by “Women of Chicago’s Black Renaissance” takes place Monday at 6 p.m. in Harris Hall. Note that the program is now scheduled one day earlier than originally announced; for tickets and more information, visit aspenmusicfestival.com.
