Vocal Recital: Jennifer Johnson Cano

Jennifer Johnson Cano has garnered critical acclaim for performances of both new and standard repertoire; lauded by The New York Times for her “rich-toned mezzo-soprano” voice and by Opera News as a “matchless interpreter of contemporary opera.”

In summer 2023, Cano performs Mozart’s Requiem with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Bravo! Vail Festival Chorus under Yannick Nézet-Séguin and can be heard in concert with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Soceity and Music from Angel Fire. Her 2023/24 Season highlights include performances as Mistress Quickly in Falstaff at Houston Grand Opera; appearances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Dallas, Chicago, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and National Symphonies; the Philadelphia premiere of Marc Neikrug’s A Song by Mahler with the FLUX Quartet. Next summer, she inaugurates the role of Michele in the World Premiere of Gregory Spears’s The Righteous with Santa Fe Opera.

Cano undertakes a balance of orchestral, opera and chamber music performances each season. She has collaborated on numerous projects with the Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst as well as the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel in both the US and Europe. She has performed with the New York Philharmonic in both New York and Vail; Pittsburgh Symphony under Manfred Honeck; Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin; the Chicago Symphony and Riccardo Muti; and Atlanta Symphony under Nathalie Stutzman.

Highlights of Cano’s operatic career have included performing the roles of Donna Elvira, Carmen, and Offred with the Boston Lyric Opera; The Fox in The Cunning Little Vixen with the Cleveland Orchestra; the Mother, Dragonfly, and the Squirrel in L'enfant et les sortilèges with the San Francisco Symphony; performances of El Niño with John Adams and the London Symphony Orchestra; Carmen with the New Orleans Opera; and Orphée with the Des Moines Metro Opera and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. She has appeared in more than 100 performances on the stage at The Metropolitan Opera since her debut in the 2009/10 Season, most recently in the roles of Nicklausse, Emilia, Hansel, and Meg Page. Cano debuted the role of Virginia Woolf in the World Premiere of Kevin Puts's The Hours with the Philadelphia Orchestra about which The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, “Every word was clear both in content and intention, and her mezzo-soprano tone was deeply alluring.”

Other recent roles have included Mother Marie in Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites with Houston Grand Opera; Judith in Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle with Roanoke Opera; Donna Elvira with the Atlanta Opera; and Celeste in the World Premiere of Gregory Spears's Castor and Patience with Cincinnati Opera.

A native of St. Louis, Cano earned degrees from Rice University and Webster University, where she was honored as a distinguished alumna and commencement speaker in May 2017. Her debut recital recording with pianist Christopher Cano, “Unaffected: Live from the Savannah Voice Festival,” was recorded live and unedited. She sings as a soloist on a live recording of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony and in Bernstein's Symphony No. 1 "Jeremiah" with Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. She also recorded Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble.

Cano joined the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at The Metropolitan Opera after winning the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Among her honors are Winner of the Young Concert Artist International Auditions, a Sara Tucker Study Grant, a Richard Tucker Career Grant and a George London Award.

“Dramatic intelligence and imagination suffused every note of Ms. Johnson Cano’s performance. Endowed with an attention-grabbing dark mezzo, its depths bracing like strong coffee, she seems to thrive in the role of a storyteller.” — The New York Times