Old First Concerts has a sharp eye for artists who are on the edge of stardom, which is what makes this low-priced concert series so successful. In Mizuka Kano, they’ve come up with another winner. Literally – she took the gold medal at the 15th Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau in 2008.
Kano has already had a West Coast appearance in her young career (with the Pasadena Philharmonic en route to second prize in the first annual Rachmaninoff Competition in 2002), but this is the first exposure she will have in the Bay Area. Slowly establishing herself on the German/ European circuit, with appearances at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, the Berlin Philharmonic lunchtime concerts, and other festival dates, Kano is clearly a first-rate artist. Her recital repertoire of Schumann and Debussy is right in her comfort zone, making this another under-the-radar concert that merits a few attentive pairs of eyes and ears.