Albert Cano Smit

“a moving young poet… a great romantic”

– Christophe Huss, Le Devoir

Praised as “a moving young poet” (Le Devoir), Spanish-Dutch pianist Albert Cano Smit is building a rapidly growing international career on the orchestral, recital, and chamber music stages. Winner of the 2019 YCA Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, Cano Smit is renowned for his captivating performances, storytelling artistry, and nuanced musicality.

He has appeared as a soloist with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Montréal Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, Elgin Symphony, Aiken Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, Orquesta Filarmónica de Boca del Río, Barcelona Symphony, Catalonia National Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Nottingham Youth Orchestra, and the American Youth Symphony, with upcoming performances with the Colorado Symphony and Virginia Symphony. His collaborations have included work with conductors such as Andrew Grams, Katharina Wincor, Pablo Rus Broseta, Ryan Bancroft, and Stephanie Childress.

Recital highlights include his Carnegie Hall debut presented by The Naumburg Foundation, his Merkin Hall debut presented by Young Concert Artists, and appearances at San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, Paris’ Fondation Louis Vuitton (streamed live globally), the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater in Washington, D.C., Germany’s Rheingau Music Festival, Barcelona’s Palau de la Música Catalana Auditorium, Madrid’s Auditorio Nacional de Música (Sala de Cámara), and return engagements with the Steinway Society in San Jose and the Miami International Piano Festival. He has also been presented by Festival Bach Montréal, the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C., University of Florida Performing Arts, the Krannert Center in Urbana, and Matinée Musicale in Cincinnati. In addition, he has held a seven-year residency at France’s Festival de Musique de Wissembourg, served as a piano fellow at the Bravo! Vail Music Festival and Tippet Rise Art Center, and made his recital debut in Asia at Xiamen’s Banlam Grand Theater.

A devoted chamber musician, Cano Smit performs regularly with flutist Anthony Trionfo and has partnered with violinists Paul Huang and William Hagen, with whom he recorded the album Danse Russe. His recordings also include an album of Austrian viola music with Emma Wernig for Champs Hill Records. He has performed four-hand repertoire with Jean-Yves Thibaudet at the Wallis Annenberg Center and Zipper Hall, appeared with the Jupiter Chamber Players in New York and the Bridgehampton Chamber Festival, and collaborated with distinguished artists including Gary Hoffman, Andrej Bielow, Thomas Mesa, and Lev Sivkov. His ensemble work includes performances with leading string quartets such as the Ebene, Szymanowski, Casals, Cosmos, Gerhard, Verona, and Viano Quartets. Upcoming chamber engagements include a performance for Manchester Friends of Music.

Cano Smit made his debut solo recording of J.S. Bach’s Art of the Fugue on the French label Aparté. Released in March 2025, the album received critical acclaim, earning the top rating of five Diapasons from Diapason magazine.

An advocate for new music, he has premiered numerous solo works written for him by Stephen Hough, Miquel Oliu, and Katherine Balch. In addition to his YCA triumph, he won First Prize at the 2017 Walter W. Naumburg Piano Competition and received several special prizes at the 2019 YCA Auditions, including the Paul A. Fish Memorial Prize, the Alexander Kasza-Kasser Concert Prize supporting his Kennedy Center debut, the Friends of Music Concert Prize (NY), and the Sunday Musicale Prize (NJ).

Born in Geneva, Switzerland, Cano Smit began his musical training at Montserrat mountain’s Escolanía de Montserrat choir, where he sang as an alto, before pursuing piano studies with Graham Caskie, Marta Karbownicka, and Ory Shihor. He is an alum of the Verbier Festival Academy and holds a BA in Piano Performance from the Colburn School and an MM from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Robert McDonald. At Juilliard, he received the 2020 Rubinstein Prize for Piano and recently completed an Artist Diploma. He currently resides in New York City.

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YCA represents pianist Albert Cano Smit for worldwide engagements. Please contact us for more information.