JENNIFER JOHNSON CANO

Equally at home in operatic roles, orchestral performances, and chamber music, Jennifer Johnson Cano has collaborated with major conductors and composers throughout her career.  Her recordings include composers ranging from Bach to Beethoven to Wagner to Bernstein. 

Her 2026-2027 season includes engagements with the Dallas Symphony under Fabio Luisi singing Bach’s St. John's Passion, with the Colorado Symphony and Gemma New in Mozart's Requiem, with the Charlotte Symphony and Ken-David Masur in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and the Naples Philharmonic under Alexander Shelley in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.  She will sing the role of Die Amme in Die Frau ohne Schatten with Franz Welser- Möst in Cleveland to conclude his tenure as Music Director with the orchestra. Operatic engagements include her role debut as Herodias in Salome at the Seattle Opera, a return to Emilia in Otello at The Metropolitan Opera, and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly at Covent Garden in her Royal Opera House debut.  Additionally, she will present the world premiere of a recital work, Bartleby, by Gregory Spears at the Tucson Desert Song Festival, with pianist Christopher Cano.  

Last season brought return engagements with the Chicago, San Francisco, Colorado and Seattle Symphonies, as well as The Santa Fe Opera and The Metropolitan Opera in her role debut as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly. She has appeared with The Apollo Orchestra in repertoire representing a wide variety of composers, and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society presented her in recital with pianist Christopher Cano and violist Beth Guterman Chu. Tours included a Bach project with Simone Dinnerstein and her ensemble Baroklyn (following Ms. Cano’s appearance on Complicité, Ms. Dinnerstein’s 2025 Supertrain Records release), as well as a week with the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan. 

Highlights of Cano’s operatic career have included performing Donna Elvira, Carmen and Offred with 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 New Orleans Opera; and Orphée with Des Moines Metro Opera and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. She has appeared in more than 150 performances on The Metropolitan Opera stage since her debut in the 2009-2010 season. Frequent collaborators include Franz Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra, Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Yannick Nézet-Séguin in Philadelphia and with the Orchestre Métropolitain, and Riccardo Muti with the Chicago Symphony. She has also sung with the New York Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, and Dallas Symphony, among others.

September 2026