Duo Matices

Next Ensemble Presents:

Duo Matices

March 27, 2026

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Tonight's Performers

Alba Franco-Cancel

Puerto Rican soprano Alba Franco-Cancél continues to thrill audiences with her pure, silvery, and bell-like sound, delivered with her magnetic stage presence and outstanding acting skills in both operatic and concert appearances.

Franco-Cancél has participated in over forty operatic productions, excelling in roles such as the Queen of the Night, Gilda, Musetta, Despina, Zerlina, Giannetta, and Frasquita. Recent appearances include her European debut as Christine in The Phantom of the Opera in Bari, Italy; the role of Sarah in La Llorona by Hector Armienta with Opera Cultura; Lucinda in Dark Sisters with Opera Fayetteville; Valencienne in Merry Widow with Pacific Opera Project; Barbarina with Livermore Valley Opera; and Despina with Opera Neo. In 2018, Alba returned to Los Angeles to perform the leading role in a Los Angeles original production of the mariachi opera Cruzar la Cara de la Luna.

Other notable engagements include Tytania in A Midsummer Night's Dream, the title role in La Calisto, Monica in The Medium, Flora in Turn of the Screw, Elle in the one-act opera La Voix Humaine, La Fée in Massenet's Cendrillon, and María in West Side Story.

In concert settings, she has appeared as soprano soloist in Mozart's C minor Mass with the Puerto Rican Symphony Orchestra; Carl Orff's Carmina Burana; Mozart's Requiem; Vivaldi's Magnificat; Bach's Christmas Oratorio; Vaughan Williams's Dona Nobis Pacem; Renée Clausen's A New Creation; and Beethoven's 9th Symphony, among many others. She collaborated as a soloist with composer Raymond Torres-Santos on his album Guakia Baba, released in 2022. In 2023, she recorded a Christmas special for mainstream TV programming in Puerto Rico, featured as soloist in Amaury Veray's El Niño de Aguadilla.

During the summers of 2022 and 2023, Franco-Cancél joined the touring opera company OperaMaya on their Yucatán Peninsula tours Aún más Fuerte and Lo Mejor de mi Vida, respectively. During the 2020–2021 lockdown, she was a featured guest artist on online concert series and cabarets with several opera companies and orchestras, including Opera Fayetteville, Livermore Valley Opera, Opera Neo, Opera San Luis Obispo, and the Arequipa Symphony Orchestra in Peru. She also collaborated with the Department of Education of San Luis Obispo County, creating 20-minute segments of educational music content showcased on their YouTube page and local TV channels.

Recent awards include winner of Mundo Arts' Latin American Art Song Competition, semi-finalist in the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition, and finalist in the American Prize Vocal Competition. Additional honors include the Illinois Opera Theater Enthusiasts Award, two-time recipient of the Bella Voice Award from the Bel Canto Foundation in Chicago, finalist in the Classical Singer's Competition, and the Public Choice Award from the Metropolitan Opera Council Regional Auditions.

She has served as visiting faculty at California Polytechnic State University, faculty at Cuesta College, Teaching Assistant at the University of Missouri–Kansas City, guest teaching artist for the Rap Opera Project of Opera Cultura, and teaching artist for the Classical Music Institute and Opera San Antonio in Texas.

Alba Franco-Cancél holds a Doctoral degree in Voice Performance from the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri, where her doctoral project explored Latin American and Iberian repertoire and performance practice. She also holds a Master's degree in Vocal Performance and Literature from the University of Illinois and a Bachelor's degree in Voice from the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico. In 2020, she earned a Vocology Certificate from the University of Utah and the National Center for Voice and Speech (NCVS). She currently serves as faculty member and Director of Vocal Studies at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music.

Alba

Jennifer Cancelado

Jennifer Cancelado is a Puerto Rican pianist trained at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico and at Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY). In addition to her work as a pedagogue, her artistic activity is centered on chamber music and on the performance and dissemination of Latin American repertoire in international settings.

She has recently appeared at the IV Urtext Festival and at the XI Festival of the Xalapa Symphony Orchestra, presenting programs devoted to Latin American repertoire. She also collaborated on the newly released debut album Arpabile: Danzas para Arpa by Mexican harpist Betuel Ramírez, under the Urtext label.

Together with Puerto Rican soprano Alba Franco-Cancel, Jennifer is co-founder of Dúo Matices, an artistic project devoted to bringing visibility to the Latin American art song repertoire. Since its founding in 2023, the duo has performed in Puerto Rico, Mexico, and the United States, presenting recitals, masterclasses, and educational concerts as part of its artistic mission.

Jennifer is also a member and co-founder of Trío Chaótico, an innovative chamber music project that blends classical and popular styles through original works and their own arrangements. The ensemble performs internationally, bringing the chamber music repertoire to diverse audiences across the Americas and Europe.

Through her projects, Jennifer maintains a strong commitment to artistic creation, collaboration, the promotion of Latin American repertoire, and the development of Spanish-language educational resources for music education


Jennifer