By virtue of their selection from a pool of nominations from over 1,200 industry professionals, each pianist has been awarded a $25,000 prize. In April 2025, the winner will be named and will receive career support valued at more than $200,000, including two years of career management and public assistance, a media tour, an artist residency at the University of Indianapolis, a recording contract with Steinway & Sons record label, performance engagements both nationally and abroad, and more. We will get to know these artists more over the coming months, but here is a quick introduction to each:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

AMERICAN PIANO AWARDS ANNOUNCES FIVE FINALISTS OF THE 2025 SEASON — EACH GUARANTEED $25,000

FINALISTS MICHAEL DAVIDMAN, AVERY GAGLIANO, SASHA KASMAN LAUDE, ELLIOT WUU, AND ANGIE ZHANG TO PARTICIPATE IN 13-MONTH COMPETITION

Pianist Michelle Cann will serve as the organization’s first Christel DeHaan Artistic Partner

INDIANAPOLIS– The American Piano Awards today announced the five finalists of the 2025 classical season. Michael Davidman, Avery Gagliano, Sasha Kasman Laude, Elliot Wuu and Angie Zhang will compete for the prestigious Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship, given every four years to an American classical pianist at the conclusion of the organization’s 13-month competition. Previous winners include Kenny Broberg, Drew Petersen, Sean Chen, Grace Fong, Spencer Myer, Frederic Chiu and Sara Davis Buechner, among others.

“The 2025 Awards are a unique celebration of our five talented finalists,” American Piano Awards President and CEO Chris Williams said. “It is incredibly rewarding to collaborate with these young pianists in the early stages of their careers and provide opportunities for them to grow as artists. I look forward to supporting our finalists throughout the Awards and beyond, as we launch the next generation of great American classical pianists.”

Providing further support and mentorship to the five finalists is pianist Michelle Cann, the organization’s inaugural Christel DeHaan Artistic Partner, a position made possible by a Legacy Grant from the Christel DeHaan Family Foundation. In this new role, Cann oversees all artistic aspects of the competition including managing the nomination process, jury selection and concert programming.

“It is an honor to join such a prestigious organization that is elevating the voices of today,” Cann said. “I am so excited to work through this process and help support these great young pianists, and I cannot wait to see all of this through to the finals in April 2025.”

Cann performed on the American Piano Award’s recital series in spring 2022 and has since fostered a collaborative relationship with the organization.

“As an artist whose career launched in the 21st century, Michelle has a wonderful perspective on what is needed to make it as a performer in today’s world,” Williams said. “We felt she would be a strong creative influence for our young finalists, as she’s doing incredible work in programming underrepresented composers and redefining the shape of a traditional concert program.”

The five finalists were selected in a blind audition process from nominations solicited from over 1,200 piano educators, artists and other industry professionals. Open to American citizens ages 18-30 and by nomination only, the competition provides a unique  platform for the national classical community to identify the best of young, upcoming American piano talent every four years.

By virtue of their selection, each of the five finalists has already won a cash prize of $25,000, performance opportunities, and global visibility from advancing to the finalist stage of the competition. Further, the winner of the 2025 American Piano Awards will receive career support valued at more than $200,000 that includes: two years of career management and public relations assistance, a media tour, an artist residency at the University of Indianapolis, a recording contract with Steinway & Sons record label, performance engagements both nationally and abroad, and more. The 2025 Awards winner will additionally embark on a new recital tour during the 2026-27 season, as well as performing with the American Piano Awards partner orchestras: the Phoenix Symphony, the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra, the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and more, to be announced.

From October 2024 through February 2025, each finalist will be invited to Indianapolis for the Premiere Series—the first live-juried performances of the Awards, consisting of solo repertoire and a concerto performance with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra at the Indiana History Center. While in town, the finalists will also participate in educational and community events. All five finalists will return to Indianapolis for Discovery Week, held March 31 – April 5, 2025. Over the course of the week, each finalist will perform a chamber music recital with the Dover Quartet at Christ Church Cathedral and a solo recital at The Jazz Kitchen. The final juried
performances of the 2025 Awards are the Gala Finals with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, conducted by JoAnn Falletta, held April 4 – 5, 2025 at Hilbert Circle Theatre.

The 2025 Awards are adjudicated by two separate jury panels: the first selected the five finalists from a pool of nominated pianists’ audio recordings via a blind listening process; the second will judge all live competition events. The jury includes:

• STEPHEN BEUS, associate professor of piano at Brigham Young University and 2006 American Piano Awards winner
• MICHELLE CANN, pianist, educator and Christel DeHaan Artistic Partner
• JANE COOP, pianist and retired professor from University of Vancouver
• CAROL LEONE, chair of piano studies at Southern Methodist University
• MARINA LOMAZOV, pianist and professor of piano at Eastman School of Music
• TITO MUÑOZ, music director of Phoenix Symphony
• SPENCER MYER, 2006 Awards winner and professor of piano at Indiana University Jacbos School of Music
• ROBERTA RUST, pianist and head of piano department at Lynn University Conservatory
• PIERRE VAN DER WESTHUIZEN, executive and artistic director of the Irving S. Gilmore International Piano Festival
• JACK WINEROCK, pianist and retired professor from University of Kansas

All juried performances in Indianapolis will be livestreamed at americanpianists.org/live and on the American Piano Awards YouTube channel (youtube.com/pianoawards) and Facebook (facebook.com/pianoawards).

ABOUT MICHELLE CANN

Lauded as “exquisite” by The Philadelphia Inquirer and “a pianist of sterling artistry” by Gramophone, Michelle Cann has become one of the most sought-after pianists of her generation. She made her debut in 2021 with The Philadelphia Orchestra and has recently
performed concertos with The Cleveland Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Orquestra Sinfônica Municipal de São Paulo, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, and Cincinnati. Highlights of Cann’s 2023-24 season include appearances with the Charlotte, Hawaii, Indianapolis, Québec, Sarasota, and Winnipeg symphony orchestras, and recitals in New York City, Portland, Berkeley, Beverly Hills, and Denver.

Recognized as a leading interpreter of the piano music of Florence Price, Cann performed the New York City premiere of Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement with The Dream Unfinished Orchestra in July 2016. Her recording of the concerto with the New York Youth Symphony won a Grammy Award in 2023. Her acclaimed debut solo album Revival, featuring music by Price and Margaret Bonds, was released in May 2023.

Cann was the recipient of the 2022 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, the highest honor bestowed by the Sphinx Organization. She 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 piano faculty of the Manhattan School of Music in 2023.

More information at Curtis.edu/revival.

ABOUT THE INDIANAPOLIS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra (ICO) advances and promotes music composed for the small orchestra through professional concert performances and educational programs. In its 40th season, ICO is comprised of 34 professional musicians. ICO presents an annual masterworks concert series and provides orchestral accompaniment for key local arts and education groups. Led by Matthew Kraemer as Music Director and Conductor, ICO proudly serves as professional orchestra-in-residence at the Schrott Center for the Arts, Butler Arts Center. ICO presents a deep commitment to new music and has commissioned or premiered over 42 new works and counting for chamber orchestra. ICO offers a full range of educational programs for ages pre-K through adult, with free appearances throughout Indianapolis.

ABOUT DOVER QUARTET

Joel Link, violin
Bryan Lee, violin
Julianne Lee, viola
Camden Shaw, cello

Named one of the greatest string quartets of the last 100 years by BBC Music Magazine, the two-time GRAMMY-nominated Dover Quartet is one of the world’s most in-demand chamber ensembles. The Dover Quartet is the Penelope P. Watkins Ensemble in Residence at the Curtis Institute of Music and holds additional residencies at Northwestern University and the Artosphere festival. The group’s awards include a stunning sweep of all prizes at the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition, grand and first prizes at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, and prizes at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition. Its
honors include the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, Chamber Music America’s Cleveland Quartet Award, and Lincoln Center’s Hunt Family Award.

The Dover Quartet’s 2023-24 season includes a North American tour with Leif Ove Andsnes, performances with Haochen Zhang and David Shifrin, and a tour to Europe and Israel. Recent collaborators include Emanuel Ax, Inon Barnaton, Ray Chen, the Escher String Quartet, Bridget Kibbey, Anthony McGill, Edgar Meyer, the Pavel Haas Quartet, Roomful of Teeth, and Davóne Tines. The quartet recently premiered Steven Mackey’s theatrical-musical work Memoir, and works by Mason Bates, Marc Neikrug, and Chris Rogerson.

The Dover Quartet’s GRAMMY-nominated recordings include its highly acclaimed three-volume recording, Beethoven Complete String Quartets (Cedille Records), which was hailed as “meticulously balanced, technically clean-as-a-whistle and intonationally immaculate” (The Strad), and The Schumann Quartets (Azica Records).

The Dover Quartet was formed at Curtis in 2008; its name pays tribute to Dover Beach by fellow Curtis alumnus Samuel Barber. The Dover Quartet proudly endorses Thomastik-Infeld strings.

ABOUT JOANN FALLETTA

Multiple Grammy Award-winning conductor JoAnn Falletta serves as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, Music Director Laureate of the Virginia Symphony, Principal Guest Conductor of the Brevard Music Center, and Conductor Laureate of the Hawaii Symphony. Named as one of the 50 great conductors of all time by Gramophone Magazine, she is hailed for her work as a conductor, recording artist, audience builder, and champion of American composers.

As Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, Falletta became the first woman to lead a major American orchestra. Other firsts in her career include the first woman to become music director of an American regional orchestra (Long Beach Symphony), the first woman and the first American to be named Music Director of the Ulster Orchestra, the first American woman conductor to lead an orchestra at the Beethoven Easter Festival in Poland, and the first woman to conduct Germany’s ancient and famous Mannheim Orchestra. Named by Bachtrack as one of the world’s busiest conductors, she has conducted over 100 orchestras in North America, including the National Symphony, and the orchestras of Boston, Baltimore, Detroit, Nashville, Indianapolis, Houston, Toronto, Milwaukee and many of the most prominent orchestras in Europe, Asia, and South America.

Falletta is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has served by Presidential appointment as a Member of the National Council on the Arts during the Bush and Obama administrations, and is the recipient of many of the most prestigious conducting awards. After earning her bachelor’s degree at Mannes, Falletta received master’s and doctoral degrees
from The Juilliard School.

For more information, visit www.joannfalletta.com

ABOUT THE INDIANAPOLIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1930 by German conductor and local violin teacher Ferdinand Schaefer. At first, comprised of volunteer musicians who split the revenue from ticket sales, the ISO became a professional orchestra with salaried musicians in 1937. That same year, Fabien Sevitzky – a Russian-born conductor and nephew of famed conductor Serge Koussevitsky – became Music Director of the ISO. Sevitzky’s appointment was highlighted in an April 5, 1937 article in Time Magazine, which began, “Of Midwestern orchestras, none has risen so rapidly or so recently as the Indianapolis Symphony.” Soon after, the ISO blossomed into one of the nation’s most renowned orchestras. Sevitzky worked to promote the ISO through a variety of national radio broadcasts, and his successor, Izler Solomon, ensured the creation of the Clowes Memorial Hall on the campus of Butler University as a venue meant specifically for the ISO (until then, the ISO had been performing at the Murat Theater). Throughout the 1950s and 60s, the ISO traveled around the world to perform “Salute” concerts in countries such as Finland, Korea, Japan, Formosa, Portugal, The Netherlands, Israel, Mexico, Austria, Venezuela, Thailand, Greece, and Chile – earning the Orchestra a Citation from the Voice of America and the United States Information Agency as well as a letter of commendation from President John F. Kennedy – the first-ever such commendation to a symphony orchestra.

The ISO welcomed Jun Märkl as its eighth Music Director of the ISO effective September 1, 2024, which marks the beginning of the 2024–25 season. Prior to that, Maestro Märkl will make his debut as music director designate conducting The Music of Strauss on January 26–27, 2024, at Hilbert Circle Theatre amid a week of celebrations.

ABOUT THE AMERICAN PIANO AWARDS

The American Piano Awards has been supporting aspiring young American pianists for over 40 years. Founded in New York City as the Beethoven Foundation in 1979 by Victor Borge, a Danish-American pianist and comedian, Tony Habig of Kimball International and Julius Bloom, former Executive Director of Carnegie Hall, the organization moved to Indianapolis in 1982 and changed its name to the American Pianists Association seven years later. In September 2024, the American Pianists Association’s name was officially changed to American Piano Awards.

The American Piano Awards alternate between classical and jazz piano every two years and offer significant opportunities for American pianists, ages 18–30, to advance their careers. Each winner receives career support valued at over $200,000, which is tailored to the particular needs of the winner and includes a cash award, performance engagements, publicity and recording opportunities. The organization strives to provide the bridge between academic training and a full-fledged professional career, focusing on individual sensibilities of each pianist to help them develop as artists. It is the intent of the American Piano Awards to focus on artistic growth rather than competitive prowess. As such, the organization does not impose repertoire requirements during its classical and jazz competitions other than those necessary for the different genres. For more information on the American Piano Awards, please visit www.piano.cardinalacres.com