February 14, 2026
Spivey Hall
Morrow, Georgia – USA
Karen Slack, soprano; Michelle Cann, piano.
Franz SCHUBERT: “Gretchen am Spinnrade”
Franz SCHUBERT: “Die Liebe hat gelogen”
Franz SCHUBERT: “Der Tod und das Mädchen”
Maurice RAVEL: “Kaddish”
Florence PRICE: “Bright be the Place”
Florence PRICE: “Ships that Pass in the Night”
Florence PRICE: “I Remember”
Florence PRICE: “Sacrament”
Florence PRICE: “Winter Idyl”
Florence PRICE: “The Dawn’s Awake”
Florence PRICE: “Beyond the Years”
Florence PRICE: “The Sum”
Florence PRICE: “There be None”
Florence PRICE: “Youth”
Florence PRICE: “Spring”
Florence PRICE: “Pittance”
Florence PRICE: “What do I Care for Morning”
Mark Gresham | 18 FEB 2026
On the afternoon of Valentine’s Day, internationally acclaimed soprano Karen Slack and pianist Michelle Cann took the stage at Spivey Hall on the campus of Clayton State University for a recital that blended profound historical rediscovery with intimate emotional resonance. The program, titled “Beyond the Years” and directly inspired by their 2025 Grammy Award-winning recording of the same name, showcased unpublished art songs by Florence Beatrice Price (1887–1953) alongside selected lieder by Franz Schubert and a Hebrew melody by Maurice Ravel.
Michelle Cann (credit: Steven Mareazi Willis)
The 3:00 p.m. performance drew an appreciative audience to the acoustically acclaimed 390-seat hall, with many educators taking advantage of complimentary tickets offered as part of Spivey Hall’s Educator Appreciation Concert Series. The event also honored the memory of Dr. Clayton and Mrs. Harry S. Downs, presented by Spivey Friends.
Slack, a Philadelphia native and Curtis Institute of Music graduate whose warm, richly colored soprano has graced opera houses and concert stages worldwide, brought vivid dramatic presence and lyrical tenderness to the repertoire. Cann, a Curtis faculty member and collaborative pianist renowned for her responsive, nuanced playing, provided seamless partnership, her touch ranging from delicate filigree to impassioned drive.
The first half opened with three early lieder by Franz Schubert — “Gretchen am Spinnrade,” Op. 2, D. 118; “Die Liebe hat gelogen,” D. 751; and “Der Tod und das Mädchen,” Op. 7, No. 3, D. 531 — setting a tone of introspective turmoil and Romantic yearning that would shape the emotional landscape of the program’s opening.
Slack navigated the spinning-wheel urgency of “Gretchen” with breathless intensity, her voice capturing the character’s obsessive heartbreak, while Cann’s piano evoked the relentless wheel. The pair transitioned smoothly into the deceptive calm of “Die Liebe hat gelogen” and the stark dialogue of “Der Tod und das Mädchen,” highlighting Schubert’s gift for psychological depth.
A brief change of mood followed with Maurice Ravel’s “Kaddish,” from Deux mélodies hébraïques, Op. 23, No. 1. Slack’s delivery of the solemn prayer was restrained yet deeply felt, with Cann’s chordal support adding a meditative weight.
The heart of the recital lay in the Florence Price songs, drawn from the unpublished works that earned Slack and Cann the 2025 Grammy for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. Price, a pioneering Black American composer whose music was long overlooked due to racial and gender barriers, emerges in these pieces as a master of melodic invention and poetic sensitivity.
Selectionson the remainder of the concert’s first half included “Bright Be the Place,” “Ships That Pass in the Night,” “I Remember,” “Sacrament,” “Winter Idyl,” and “The Dawn’s Awake.” These songs, setting texts by poets such as Lord Byron and Paul Laurence Dunbar, revealed Price’s fusion of late-Romantic expressivity with distinctly American lyricism—warm harmonies, subtle blues inflections, and a keen ear for natural imagery.
After intermission, the program continued with additional songs by Price: “Beyond the Years,” “The Sum,” “There Be None,” “Youth,” “Spring,” “Pittance,” and “What Do I Care for Morning.” Themes of reflection, hope, time’s passage, and transcendence dominated, perfectly suiting the Valentine’s Day occasion and the concert’s overarching concept. Slack’s phrasing brought out the quiet radiance in “Beyond the Years” and the joyful uplift of “Spring,” while Cann’s playing illuminated Price’s idiomatic piano writing—never mere accompaniment, but equal partner in storytelling.
This Spivey Hall appearance marked a continuation of Slack and Cann’s advocacy for Price, whose music has seen a renaissance in recent years. Their Grammy win—making history as the first album of entirely Black female-composed works to claim Best Classical Solo Vocal Album—underscored the significance of bringing these “lost” songs to light.
In an era when art song recitals often lean toward familiar canon, Slack and Cann offered something rarer: a thoughtful bridge between 19th-century European tradition and 20th-century American innovation, delivered with technical command and genuine interpretive conviction. The result was not just a concert, but a quiet act of cultural reclamation and celebration. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Karen Slack: sopranokarenslack.com
- Michelle Cann: michellecann.com
- Spivey Hall: spiveyhall.org
Read more by Mark Gresham.
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