Fury and Wonder - A Voice and Piano Recital

Soprano Katia Hayati and pianist Jessica Hall present vocal masterpieces about the uniquely human capacity to find awe, connection, and love in the face of violence and loss.

The program opens with Richard Strauss's FOUR LAST SONGS, one of the cornerstones of the soprano repertoire. Originally composed for large orchestra, the work is heard here in a reduction for voice and piano that brings this powerful music up close. Strauss's long vocal lines and late harmonic language hold wonder and mortality side by side, finding radiance not by avoiding death but by looking toward it.

The program continues with songs by Rebecca Clarke, a composer whose vocal music deserves to be heard far more often. Clarke's songs combine musical complexity with striking emotional directness. These are pieces about monsters both supernatural and human, about curses and sorrow, yet the warmth of human resilience is what anchors their world.

The recital concludes with LETTERS FROM GEORGE TO EVELYN by Alan Louis Smith. Based on wartime correspondence between George and his new wife, Evelyn, the cycle mixes tender declarations of love with vivid descriptions of the everyday horrors of war. George's writing is remarkably evocative, capturing both the fury of a war he's trapped in and the wonder of new love. Smith was pianist Jessica Hall's longtime teacher at the University of Southern California, making this performance deeply personal.

The recital will be accompanied by projected English translations and titles. A short reception will follow the performance.

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Katia Hayati (they/them) is a Tacoma-based soprano and avid recitalist with a particular interest in new music and works by under-represented composers. Recent highlights include performing Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs with chamber orchestra in 2025, and the 2024 premiere of The Mother/The Witch, a new song cycle co-created with composer Felix Jarrar and poet Rachel Marie Patterson. Other recent repertoire includes works by Pauline Viardot, Augusta Holmès, and Rebecca Clarke, alongside programs featuring Libby Larsen, Alan Louis Smith, and Gustav Mahler. Onstage, Katia has portrayed a variety of comedic, cross-cast, and dramatic roles. They appeared with Opera Idaho as Suor Zelatrice (Suor Angelica), La Ciesca (Gianni Schicchi), and as a last-minute Duke of Verona (Roméo et Juliette). They toured widely in the company’s education program performing Ruth, The Pirate King, and The Major General (not all at the same time!) in The Pirates of Penzance for thousands of elementary school students. Additional favorite roles include Magda Sorel (The Consul), Augusta Tabor (The Ballad of Baby Doe), the Mother (Hansel and Gretel), Elsie (The Yeomen of the Guard), Sparkeion (Thespis), Sempronio (Lo Speziale), and Siébel (Faust). Katia came to singing after a prior career as a Silicon Valley software engineer and holds advanced degrees in mathematics and computer science. https://katiahayati.com

Jessica Hall (she/her) is based in Tacoma, WA and has enjoyed an active and wide-ranging career as pianist, assistant and offstage conductor, coach, and chorus master on the music staff of more than 65 opera productions with companies including Seattle Opera, Vashon Opera, Opera Montana, Wexford Festival Opera, Minnesota Opera, Portland Opera, Opera Memphis, Pacific Opera Project, and Hawaii Performing Arts Festival. A frequent collaborator, she has performed with artists including Damien Geter, Olafur Sigurdarson, Rod Gilfry, Gemma Summerfield, and Marie Lenormand, and has worked with noted conductors, singers, pianists, and composers such as David Agler, Michael Christie, Robert Spano, Osmo Vänskä, Marilyn Horne, Martin Katz, Jake Heggie, Eric Owens, Denyce Graves, and Ricky Ian Gordon. Jessica has been an affiliate artist at the University of Puget Sound since 2022, as a collaborative pianist and vocal coach within the voice department. She served on the Portland Opera music staff from 2016–2020 and was a Resident Artist at Minnesota Opera from 2015–2018, where she assisted several world premieres. Jessica holds a Master of Music, Graduate Certificate, and Doctor of Musical Arts in Keyboard Collaborative Arts from the University of Southern California, where she studied with Dr. Alan L. Smith.