Women at the Piano

Solo pianist Hannah Comia performs a recital of all women composers.

PROGRAM
King: Four Seasonal Sketches
Frank: Sonata Andina
Kasilag: Burlesque
Beach: Four Sketches, Op. 15
Price: Sonata in E minor

ABOUT THE ARTIST
First-generation Filipino American pianist Hannah C. Comia performs regularly as a collaborator and soloist. She is the recipient of the 2024 Career Performance Grant from SAI Philanthropies, Inc. She has appeared at the Kosciuszko Foundation, Classic Lyric Arts Berkshires and Italy summer festivals, the Chicago Summer Opera festival, the Arabia-Kaikuu Festivaali, the Helsinki Musiikkitalo, Paavalinkirkko, the Civic Morning Musicals concert series, and the Finnish Wagner Society.

Interested in academia and scholarship, Hannah uses her programs to educate and engage audiences on various topics. In 2022, she completed a creative arts fellowship in Helsinki, Finland, studying the role of Finnish and Filipino song on political independence in both countries. In 2021, she was awarded the SU Graduate Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Work for her study on the work of composer Betty Jackson King. Hannah’s scholarship and performances have been supported by the American Scandinavian Foundation, Syracuse Graduate School, Classic Lyric Arts, the SU College of VPA, the Finlandia-Italia Ry, and the William Paterson Collage Concert scholarship.

Hannah has delved into other musical avenues. As a music director and coach, she has worked on productions of Dido and Aeneas, Albert Herring, Songs for a New World, and Sweeney Todd. As a choral singer, she has sung with groups at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Basilica di San Marco, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Salzburg Cathedral, St. John’s the Divine in NYC, La Madeleine, and Macerata Teatro. As a songwriter and arranger her original music has been performed with organizations like Sofar Sounds in NYC, Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington D.C.

Hannah serves on voice/piano faculty at William Paterson University and on music ministry staff at St. Mary’s Church in Pompton Lakes. She has trained William Paterson University, Syracuse University, Metropolia UAS, and the Sibelius Academy. Her piano teachers include Steve Heyman, Carl Patrick Bolleia, and Soo Yeon Cho.

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