Albert Cano Smit

Albert Cano Smit is a musician who has been praised as “a moving young poet” (Le Devoir), Spanish/Dutch pianist Albert Cano Smit enjoys a growing international career on the orchestral, recital, and chamber music stages. Noted for his captivating performances, storytelling quality and nuanced musicality, the First Prize winner of the 2019 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions has appeared as a soloist with the Seattle Symphony, Las Vegas Philharmonic, the San Diego Symphony, Montréal Symphony, the Colorado MusicFestival Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, Barcelona Symphony, Manchester Camerata, Elgin Symphony, and Aiken Symphony amongst others.

Recital highlights have included his Carnegie Hall debut presented by The Naumburg Foundation, his Merkin Concert hall debut presented by Young Concert Artists, recitals at San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, Paris’ Fondation Louis Vuitton (the performance was streamed live globally), the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater in Washington, DC, Germany’s Rheingau Music Festival, and return performances at the Steinway Society in San Jose. He has been in residence at France’s Festival de Musique de Wissembourg for nine years, a piano fellow at Bravo! Vail Music Festival and Tippet Rise Art Center, and has had his recital debut in Asia at Xiamen’s Banlam Grand Theater.

Albert has been presented in recital by Festival Bach Montréal, University of Florida Performing Arts, the Krannert Center (Urbana, IL), Matinée Musicale (Cincinnati, OH), Friends of Music Concerts (Sleepy Hollow, NY), and will also participate in the inaugural chamber music ensemble of YCA on Tour. He recently premiered Katherine Balch’s “Spolia” with flutist Anthony Trionfo taking them to the Morgan Library and Carnegie Hall. Cano Smit is set to continue touring with violinist William Hagen, with whom he has recorded the CD “Danse Russe”, and with violinist Risa Hokamura.

An advocate for new music, Albert has premiered numerous solo works on his recital programs, commissioned for him by Stephen Hough, Miquel Oliu, and Katherine Balch. He recently took part in the premiere of a commission by Tod Machover as part of Sejong Soloists, premiered at Alice Tully Hall and Seoul Arts Center. He has given four hand performances with Jean-Yves Thibaudet at the Wallis Annenberg Center Hall and Zipper Hall, taken part in the Jupiter Chamber Players in New York and the Bridgehampton Chamber Festival, and performed with such artists as Gary Hoffman, Stephen Waarts, Stella Chen, Andrej Bielow, Bella Hristova, Benjamin Baker, Pinchas Zukerman, Danbi Um, Thomas Mesa, and Lev Sivkov. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with such ensembles as the Ebene, Szymanowski, Casals, Cosmos, Gerhard, Callisto and Verona Quartets, and has released an album of Austrian viola music for Champs Hills with Emma Wernig.

Albert was First Prize winner at the 2017 Walter W. Naumburg Piano Competition. Additional prizes include a finalist prize and CMIM Grant in the 2017 Concours Musical International de Montreal. 

Born in Geneva, Switzerland, Albert recently completed an Artist Diploma with Robert McDonald at the Juilliard School, where he was awarded the 2020 Rubinstein Prize for Piano. Early on, he studied music at Montserrat mountain’s Escolanía de Montserrat choir, where he sang as an alto and studied organ. He is an alum of the Verbier Festival Academy and Ravinia Steans Institute.