Back to List
By all accounts, Jennifer Johnson Cano's performance as Offred in Boston Lyric Opera's production of The Handmaid's Tale was a smashing success. The mezzo-soprano now looks forward to an exciting summer season, including debuts at Ravinia Festival and Blossom Music Festival as well as return engagements with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Los Angeles Philharmonic.
The Handmaid's Tale Critical Acclaim:
Through much of the opera, what we are observing — and marveling at — is the tour de force performance of mezzo soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano in the central part of Offred, seemingly a role she was born to inhabit. Offred is onstage for almost all of the opera’s roughly 150 minutes, singing for much of that time.
The opera is...focused squarely on Offred, sung with passionate intensity by the rich-voiced mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano, a consummate actress, who is onstage throughout.
Rare is the scene where Offred is not singing. She carries the opera on her back. Jennifer Johnson Cano’s stamina and total commitment were exceptional. A probing singing-actress (her laugh closing Act 1 was chilling), she created a public and private self, her demeanor and expression reflecting the corseted, cooler music of her Gilead scenes and the freer, more high flying line when alone or lost in memory. (5 star review)
*********
Summer Engagements:
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra | Manfred Honeck
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 | June 6-9
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra | Michael Tilson Thomas
Ravel: L'enfant et les sortilèges | June 27, 29 & 30
New York Philharmonic @ Bravo! Vail | Bramwell Tovey
An Evening of Cole Porter | July 23
Ravinia Festival | Recital with Matthew Polenzani
Music of Schubert, Beethoven, Brahms, and Janáček | August 6
Cleveland Orchestra @ Blossom Music Festival | Vinay Parameswaran
Bernstein: Symphony No. 1 Jeremiah | August 17
Gretna Music | Recital with John Matthew Myers and Christopher Cano
Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde | August 25
Los Angeles Philharmonic @ Hollywood Bowl | Xian Zhang
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 | August 27 & 29