Young Concert Artists Presents Jennifer Johnson Cano in NY Recital Debut 5/2

Twenty-six-year-old American mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano, winner of the 2009 Young Concert Artists International Auditions and a fast-rising star at the Metropolitan Opera, makes her New York recital debut, sponsored by the Peter Marino Debut Prize, in the Young Concert Artists Series on Monday, May 2, 2011, at Merkin Concert Hall, accompanied by pianist Christopher Cano. The program includes Mahler's Songs of a Wayfarer, Argento's From the Diary of Virginia Woolf, and Ravel's Cinq Mélodies Populaires Grecques.

As with the other concerts in this season's YCA series, the program will feature a special YCA "alumna," in this case the Dutch harpist Gwyneth Wentink, who will join Ms. Cano in the Ravel work.

Displaying the great range of her talent this season, Ms. Johnson Cano has appeared with Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic in Mendelssohn's Elijah, and in three roles at the Metropolitan Opera including Wellgunde in Wagner's Das Rheingold. She also performed Schumann's Frauenliebe und leben at the Chicago Opera Theater and tours in chamber music programs with Musicians from Marlboro.

Dutch harpist Gwyneth Wentink has won first prize in the most prestigious harp competitions in the world: the Princess Christina Competition in the Netherlands, the Nippon Harp Competition in Tokyo, the Israel International Harp Competition, and in 1999 at the age of 17, the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York. Since then, Ms. Wentink has performed recitals and concertos with top orchestras all over the world, and is frequently featured as a chamber musician. She is principal harpist of John Eliot Gardiner's Orchestre Révolutionaire et Romantique.

Highlights of her current season include a tour with the Kirwani Quartet in India and a performance of the Ginastera Concerto with the Balearic Symphony Orchestra under Salvador Brotons in Palma de Mallorca.

Young Concert Artists, Inc. is a non-profit organization founded in 1961, dedicated to discovering and launching the careers of exceptional musicians who have included soprano Dawn Upshaw; pianists Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Emanuel Ax, Joseph Kalichstein and Richard Goode; violinists Chee-Yun and Pinchas Zukerman; and the Tokyo and St. Lawrence String Quartets. YCA celebrates its 50th anniversary this season. www.yca.org
Monday, May 2, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.
Merkin Concert Hall

Jennifer JohnsON CANO, mezzo-soprano
Christopher Cano, pianist
Special guest: Gwyneth Wentink, harpist, YCA Alumna

PORPORA: "Alto Giove" from Polifemo
MAHLER: Songs of a Wayfarer
RAVEL: Cinq Mélodies Populaires Grecques for voice and harp
ARGENTO: From the Diary of Virginia Woolf

TICKETS: $40, $30, $10
Call Young Concert Artists at (212) 307-6655 or Merkin Hall Box Office at (212) 501-3330

YOUNG CONCERT ARTISTS, INC. 250 West 57 Street New York, NY 10107 Telephone: (212) 307-6655 Website: www.yca.org