Michael Rainwater — Concert Pianist, Arranger & Producer
Pianist · Arranger · Producer
About
Classical elegance
meets a bold, new edge.
Born in Atlanta and playing piano since age three, Michael Rainwater fuses centuries-old classical elegance with a bold, pop-driven edge. He has enthralled audiences at world-class venues like Carnegie Hall and Cobb Energy Centre, placing the piano at the heart of lush, immersive sonic landscapes that redefine familiar melodies.
Press & Media
In the Spotlight
Milton Herald
“Milton piano virtuoso selected to perform in NBC special benefiting children’s hospital.”
Atlantan Magazine
“On the rise and just getting started.”
Voyage Atlanta
“Michael blends classical roots with a fresh, contemporary sound.”
Sheet Music & More
The Editions
Great Balls of Fire
$29
Video Killed the Radio Star
$39
Prelude/Angry Young Man
$29Get in Touch
Bring Your Vision to Life
For performance inquiries, arrangement commissions, or collaboration opportunities, please reach out.
Get in TouchPianist · Arranger · Producer
Michael
Rainwater
Biography
Classical elegance
meets a bold,
new edge.
Born in Atlanta and playing piano since age three, Michael Rainwater fuses centuries-old classical elegance with a bold, pop-driven edge. He has enthralled audiences at world-class venues like Carnegie Hall and Cobb Energy Centre, placing the piano at the heart of lush, immersive sonic landscapes that redefine familiar melodies.
Featured on countless television specials, concerts, and benefits as well as in top magazines and newspapers, Rainwater's artistry now commands global attention. As both an arranger and producer, he reshapes tradition for a new era — where timeless artistry meets limitless possibility. Michael is also the creator of Classical Not Classical, a rock-symphony project that rebuilds anthems with classical architecture.
Music is enough for a whole lifetime — but a lifetime is not enough for music.— Sergei Rachmaninoff
Roots & Training
Carnegie Hall
at Sixteen
Beginning formal piano training at age three, Michael's disciplined technique and expressive depth set him apart from the start. By his teenage years he had performed at Carnegie Hall, Cobb Energy Centre, Ferst Performing Arts Centre, and the City Springs Performing Arts Center. His 2020 First Prize at the Crescendo International Piano Competition signaled his arrival as a formidable presence in both classical and contemporary music.
Arrangements & Production
Reshaping
Tradition
Since age eleven, Michael has crafted unique scores blending classical grandeur with pop, jazz, and rock. His arrangement of Great Balls of Fire garnered widespread acclaim, launching a series of scored pieces that earned top ratings on Musicnotes and SheetMusicPlus. Drawing from Perry Como, Elvis Presley, and Andy Williams, he continually enriches the piano's role with orchestral textures. His 2022 production of Back To Black featured a personally formed orchestra.
Giving Back
$7 Million
Raised
Beyond the concert hall, Michael is a five-time featured soloist at the Tower of Talent charity concert, raising funds for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and their music therapy program. His performances have helped generate over $7 million for this vital cause. He has also lent his talents to the DELVIS Sings for Autism Change foundation, demonstrating that musical excellence can be a powerful force for social good.
Press & Media
In the
Spotlight
Selected press coverage and media features. For press inquiries, interview requests, or media kits, please reach out through the contact page.
Milton piano virtuoso selected to perform in NBC special benefiting children's hospital.
On the rise and just getting started.
Michael blends classical roots with a fresh, contemporary sound.
Michael is quite an accomplished pianist as well as a composer and arranger.
Using arrangement to bring out a side of the piano people aren't familiar with.
His arrangements cast the piano in a new light, blending classical depth with contemporary sound.
Get in Touch
Bring Your
Vision to Life.
Inquiries
Let's create something
worth remembering.
For performance inquiries, arrangement commissions, or collaboration opportunities, please contact manager Rick Kanfer. Michael is available for concert performances, private events, arrangement commissions, production collaborations, and speaking engagements.
Photography
In the
Frame
THE EDITIONS
Sheet Music & More
The Project
Classical Not
Classical
Classical Not Classical is a rock-symphony project founded by concert pianist Michael Rainwater that rebuilds anthems from rock, pop, and cinema with classical piano architecture. It is not a genre — it is a philosophy: that the boundary between classical and contemporary music was always thinner than we imagined, and that the piano is the instrument best suited to prove it.
The Philosophy
Where most crossover projects simplify one tradition to fit another, Classical Not Classical does the opposite. Every arrangement begins with the original recording and deconstructs it — isolating the harmonic skeleton, the rhythmic pulse, the emotional arc — then rebuilds it from the ground up using classical compositional technique. The result is music that honours both worlds without diluting either: a rock anthem that sounds inevitable on a Steinway, a pop ballad whose structure reveals hidden counterpoint, a film score distilled to its purest melodic essence.
The project grew from Rainwater's lifelong conviction that the piano can carry any genre on its shoulders if the arrangement is ambitious enough. Beginning at age eleven, he started scoring pieces that merged classical grandeur with the energy of rock and pop. Those early sketches evolved into a library of published works that have earned top ratings on Musicnotes and SheetMusicPlus, performed on stages from Carnegie Hall to Cobb Energy Centre.
The Editions & Recordings
Classical Not Classical publishes its arrangements through The Editions, a curated sheet music catalog offering advanced piano solo and ensemble scores. Featured titles include concert arrangements of Great Balls of Fire, Video Killed the Radio Star, Prelude/Angry Young Man, and Everybody Wants to Rule the World — each scored with the detail and ambition of a classical etude, but with the visceral energy of the original recording intact.
Beyond sheet music, the project releases studio recordings that bring these arrangements to life. The orchestral reimagining of Video Killed the Radio Star pairs piano with full orchestra in a cinematic treatment that exemplifies the Classical Not Classical ethos. Rainwater's 2020 album THIS IS PIANO captures the breadth of the project's ambitions across a range of styles and sources, from holiday classics to rock standards.
Where It Lives
Classical Not Classical maintains its own home at classicalnotclassical.com, where the brand's recordings, videos, and story continue to expand. The project is not a side venture — it is the lens through which Rainwater views the entire piano repertoire: a conviction that every great melody, regardless of origin, deserves the full weight of classical craft.