Jennifer Johnson Cano

Mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano has garnered critical acclaim for committed performances of both new and standard repertoire. With more than 100 performances at the Metropolitan Opera, her most recent roles have included Nicklausse, Emilia, Hansel, and Meg Page. She has undertaken numerous projects with the Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst in both the US and Europe, and appeared with Cleveland in Verdi’s Otello in 21-22. Other highlights that season included performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin in a premiere of Kevin Puts’s The Hours, performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Chicago Symphony, and Riccardo Muti and the San Francisco Symphony. Following summer festival premieres, she performed the New York premiere of a new chamber opera by Marc Neikrug, A Song By Mahler, at the Chamber Music Society. She performed Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites (Mother Marie) with the Houston Grand Opera; the world premiere of Gregory Spear’s Castor and Patience (Celeste) with the Cincinnati Opera; Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle (Judith) with the Roanoke Opera; and workshops of Gregg Kallor’s new opera, Frankenstein, with the Arizona Opera. Cano is a native of St. Louis and earned degrees from Webster University and Rice University. Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition, she has also received First Prize in the Young Concert Artist International Auditions, a Sara Tucker Study Grant, a Richard Tucker Career Grant, and George London Award.