Mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano is a rising star in opera, in recital and as a vocalist with orchestras.  Opera News called her “a matchless interpreter of contemporary opera.” Sharing the stage in Philadelphia with Renée Fleming and Kelli O'Hara, The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, “Cano’s portrayal of Woolf was 100% there: Every word was clear both in content and intention, and her mezzo-soprano tone was deeply alluring.” As Offred in The Handmaid’s Tale with Boston Lyric Opera, The Boston Globe marveled at her “tour-de-force performance.” As Orfeo in Orfeo and Euridice in St. Louis, the Post-Dispatch notes that—in the role that essentially carries the opera—she brought “a big, rich voice that’s flawlessly produced in both lyrical and fiendishly challenging coloratura passages.” 

This season, Jennifer Johnson Cano embarks on a characteristically varied season of opera, recitals and chamber music, performing a huge range of repertoire. Highlights of the 2023-2024 season include: a debut as Mistress Quickly in Falstaff at Houston Grand Opera, as she steps into this new role after singing the role of Meg for ten years; two performances of Handel’s Messiah, with the San Francisco and Chicago Symphonies; her first post-COVID recitals with pianist Christopher Cano, featuring beloved 19^th-century repertoire as well as Jonathan Dove’s contemporary song cycle based on poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay; a residency, including a recital and chamber music performance, at Duke University; a Bach project with pianist Simone Dinnerstein at Miller Theater in New York; chamber music in Brooklyn; Wagner’s Ring cycle with the Dallas Symphony; Marc Neikrug’s chamber opera A Song by Mahler, which she premiered in 2021; a debut with the National Symphony in Washington as Emilia in Otello; and, next summer, her debut with Santa Fe Opera in another world premiere role in a new opera by Gregory Spears and Tracy K. Smith, The Righteous. 

Oct 27-Nov 10, 2023
Houston, TX / Houston Grand Opera – Role Debut as Mistress Quickly
VERDI Falstaff 
After ten years in the role of Meg, Jennifer Johnson Cano steps into a new, more mature role as Mistress Quickly in the Houston Grand Opera’s production of Falstaff. 
Link to event

Dec 8-9, 2023
San Francisco, CA / San Francisco Symphony, Jonathan Cohen, Conductor
HANDEL Messiah
Heidi Stober, Soprano | Jennifer Johnson Cano, Mezzo-Soprano
Nicholas Phan, Tenor | Michael Sumuel, Bass
Link to event

Dec 21-23, 2023 
Chicago, IL / Chicago Symphony, Sir Andrew Davis, Conductor
HANDEL Messiah
Joélle Harvey, Soprano | Jennifer Johnson Cano, Mezzo-Soprano
Matthew Polenzani, Tenor | John Relyea, Bass
Link to event

Feb 5, 2024 / Portland, OR / Friends of Chamber Music / Lincoln Performance Hall
Feb 7, 2024 / McMinnville, OR / Linfield University Lively Arts Concert Series
RECITALS with Christopher Cano, Piano
In their first tour of recitals since the COVID shutdown, this husband-and-wife team present an evening of life-affirming music that traverses many languages: Italian, German, French, English and the wordless “vocalise.” For this program, Cano prepared repertoire she has not done before, including work by 19th-century Romantic composers Bellini, Grieg, and Duparc; Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise; Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder; and the 21st-century song cycle Nights Not Spent Alone, by leading English composer Jonathan Dove, whose text comes from poems by early-20th-century American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay.
Link to Portland Event
Link to McMinnville Venue

Feb 11, 2024 / Durham, NC / Duke University / Recital
Feb 17, 2024 / Durham, NC / Duke University / Chamber Music with Ciompi Quartet
Concerts & Residency at Duke
Ms. Cano begins her week-long residency at Duke University on Sunday (Feb 11) with a recital with pianist Christopher Cano featuring songs by Bellini, Grieg, Duparc, Rachmaninoff and Jonathan Dove. The week concludes on Saturday (Feb 18) with a program of chamber music with Duke’s resident ensemble, the Ciompi Quartet; the program includes Fauré’s La Bonne Chanson (additional repertoire TBD). In between, Ms. Cano offers classes and workshops on campus and in the community to inspire curiosity and encourage young musicians to discover their own, individual paths through their musical careers, while sharing her skills, experience and perspective. 
Link to venue

Mar 8, 2024 / Brooklyn, NY / Brooklyn Chamber Music Society
RAVEL: Chansons madécasses (Madagascar songs) and selected songs TBD 
Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano | Tara Helen O’Connor, flute
Angela Park, cello | Molly Morkoski, piano
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Mar 28, 2024 / New York, NY / Miller Theater 
Bach Collection with Pianist Simone Dinnerstein 
J.S. BACH Cantata in D major Vergnügte Ruh’, beliebte Seelenlust, BWV 170 (1726)Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano | Peggy Pearson, oboe
Rebecca Fisher, violin | Simone Dinnerstein, piano
Link to event

May 2 & 5, 2024 / Dallas Symphony Orchestra
WAGNER Ring Cycle: Die Walküre / Fabio Luisi, Music Director & Conductor
Jennifer Johnson Cano makes her debut with the Dallas Symphony, joining a cast of internationally renowned singers in the Symphony’s opera-in-concert version of Die Walküre. 
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May 15, 2024 / Philadelphia Chamber Opera
A Song by Mahler by Marc Neikrug
Jennifer Johnson Cano reprises the role she created in Marc Neikrug’s A Song by Mahler. Opera News wrote of the New York Premiere in 2021, “Jennifer Johnson Cano gave a powerful portrayal of the (unnamed) singer. What was most striking was her ability to alter the character of her voice to depict the various shades of her character's descent into illness. Her tone was warm and strong early on, and in moments of seeming, hoped-for recovery. As Alzheimer's grew in influence, her voice became thinner and paler, yet remained heartbreakingly alive.” She is joined by baritone Ryan Bradford, who plays her husband; clarinetist David Shifrin and the FLUX Quartet perform the score.  Composer’s note is available here.  
Link to event

Jun 7 & 9, 2024
Washington, DC / National Symphony Orchestra – Debut
Gianandrea Noseda, Conductor
VERDI Otello / Role: Emilia
In Ms. Cano’s debut with the National Symphony, she plays her signature role of Emilia, with Mr. Noseda conducting in this concert version of Otello. 
Link to Event

Jul 13 – Aug 13, 2024
Santa Fe, NM / Santa Fe Opera – Debut
World Premiere: The Righteous by Gregory Spears & Tracy K. Smith
In the summer of 2022, Ms. Cano appeared in the world premiere of Gregory Spears’ and Tracy K. Smith’s Castor and Patience at the Cincinnati Opera.  The New York Times reported that Cano, “Singing with mellow power…brought humanity and nuance to Castor’s wife, Celeste, who starts the opera pressuring him to sell [his family’s land] but ends up in as much agonized ambivalence as anyone.” In The Righteous, Cano inhabits the character of Michele, the wife of David, whose struggle to reconcile spiritual faith, power and ambition is at the center of the opera’s narrative