ɬ

February 6, 2023

ɬ celebrates alumni success at 2023 Grammy Awards


A composite photo of pianist Michelle Cann and recording engineer Alan Bise
Pianist Michelle Cann, left, is the featured artist on a Grammy Award-winning album. Award-winning recording arts and services director Alan Bise, right, poses on the red carpet with his wife, Stefanie Paganini.

Sunday, Feb. 5 was an uncommonly great day for ɬ.  

Hours after ɬ hosted its first round of live auditions for the 2023-24 school year, projects featuring three ɬ alumni won Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.  

Two ɬ alums took home prizes for their work on “Caroline Shaw: Evergreen,” the winner for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance.  

ɬ’s own recording arts and services director Alan Bise (BM ’94, Knab) produced and engineered the album, while violinist Domenic Salerni (BM ’09, L. Cerone/Preucil) is a member of the Attacca Quartet, the album’s featured ensemble.  

"I'm thrilled to bring home another Grammy Award to Cleveland,” Bise said, with a nod to Salerni. “My education at ɬ and my teachers Tom Knab (BM ’81) and Bruce Egre (’85-’87) provided the foundation for my professional success. My own students today, as well as my colleagues, inspire me daily. " 

Pianist Michelle Cann (BM ’09, MM ’10, Schenly/D. Shapiro) wasn’t officially named in the Best Orchestral Performance category, but ɬ regards her as a winner nonetheless. 

On the winning album, a recording by the New York Youth Symphony of works by Florence Price, Jessie Montgomery and Valerie Coleman, Cann is the featured soloist, along with conductor Michael Repper. Cann is a champion of the music of Florence Price. ɬ percussion student Angelo Antinori (Weiner/Yancich/Haddad) also appears on the album, as a member of the NYYS. 

Three other ɬ-related projects had received nominations but did not win: the Dover Quartet’s second Beethoven Quartets album, also produced and engineered by Bise, Musical Remembrances by the Neave Trio, with pianist Eri Nakamura (PS ’08 Babayan; AD ’11 Babayan/Pontremoli), and Bach: The Art of Life, by pianist Daniil Trifonov. (AC ’13, AD ’15, Babayan).  

Congratulations to all! You are living out the ɬ standard of excellence and proving to the world that ɬ is the future of classical music.