This concert is the North Carolina Symphony debut for Albert Cano Smit.

A musician who has been praised as “a moving young poet” (Le Devoir of Montreal), Spanish/Dutch pianist Albert Cano Smit was First Prize winner of the 2019 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions and has been featured recently with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and at the Miami International Piano Festival. Previous appearances as a soloist have included the Seattle Symphony, Las Vegas Philharmonic, the San Diego Symphony, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, Orchestra of St Luke’s, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and National Orchestra of Catalonia, and Manchester Camerata.

Recital highlights have included his Carnegie Hall debut, presented by the Walter W. 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 and L’Auditori de Barcelona. He was in residence at France’s Festival international de musique de Wissembourg for seven years. He has toured frequently with violinist William Hagen, with whom he recorded the CD Danse Russe. In 2017, he was First Prize winner at the Walter W. Naumburg Piano Competition, and a finalist and CMIM Grant winner at the Concours musical international de Montréal.

A polyglot who speaks five languages, Smit was born in Geneva, the son of a Dutch mother and Spanish father. He left home at nine to join the Escolania de Montserrat choir school and went on to complete an Artist Diploma and master’s degree with Robert McDonald at The Juilliard School, where he was awarded the 2020 Rubinstein Prize for Piano. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in from the Colburn School with Ory Shihor. He currently resides in New York City.