2025 Iva Dee Hiatt Memorial Concert

NORTHAMPTON, MA — The Smith College Department of Music presents the 2025 Iva Dee Hiatt Memorial Concert on March 1 in John M. Greene at 3 p.m. The concert will feature the Requiem by Maurice Duruflé—a modern masterpiece for organ and choir—performed by the Smith College Glee Club and guests, the Cornell Glee Club, and the Amherst Glee Clubs. Albert Cano Smit will play the Hall’s symphonic organ along with the Oratorio Orchestra. The program also includes performances by each of the ensembles conducted by Arianne Abela ‘08, Jonathan Hirsh, Hanif Lawrence, and Joe Lerangis. The concert is free and open to the public.

Maurice Duruflé (1902–1986) was an outstanding French organist, teacher at the Paris Conservatoire, and composer. Duruflé had been in a choir school for Cathedral training between the ages of 10–16 and was strongly influenced for the rest of his life by plainsong traditions and modal harmonies. He completed the Requiem in 1947 composing it on the Gregorian themes of the Mass for the Dead. “This Requiem is not an ethereal work singing of detachment from human concerns,” Maurice Duruflé observed. “In the unchanging form of Christian prayer, it reflects the anguish of humanity faced with the mystery of its final end.”

Spanish/Dutch pianist Albert Cano Smit, the Smith Iva Dee Hiatt Visiting Artist in Piano enjoys a growing international career on the orchestral, recital, and chamber music stages. Noted for his captivating performances, storytelling quality and nuanced musicality, the First Prize winner of the 2019 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions has appeared as a soloist with the Seattle Symphony, Las Vegas Philharmonic, the San Diego Symphony, Montréal Symphony, the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, Barcelona Symphony, Manchester Camerata, Elgin Symphony, and Aiken Symphony amongst others.

Soprano Kate Saik DeLugan is a cross-genre vocalist who holds a master of music from the Manhattan School of Music and a bachelor of music from the University of Massachusetts Amherst where she focused on classical music and opera performance. As a student, Kate performed with the Manhattan School of Music Contemporary Opera Ensemble, the Discover Opera outreach program, multiple chamber ensembles and as a concert soloist; including Poulenc’s Gloria at Saint John the Divine Cathedral with Maestro Philippe Entremont. Additionally, she was the second-place winner in the Alan and Joan Taub Ades Vocal Competition and first place winner in the Eisenberg-Fried Concerto Competition. In addition to performing and teaching, Katherine has been active in recent years as a stage director, administrator and producer for schools and local arts organizations. She is the current president of PanOpera Inc.

Iva Dee Hiatt was Director of Choirs at Smith College from 1948 to 1978. After receiving wide acclaim as a conductor with organizations ranging from the Orquestra Sinfonica Nacional of Mexico to the orchestra at Tanglewood, she became the first woman to be named the director of Choral Music at Smith College. During her 31 years as a professor, she created the beloved Christmas Vespers program, founded the acclaimed Smith College Chamber Singers, and established a tradition of student choral conducting that endures today. Hiatt was awarded the Smith College Medal in May of 1979, and passed away in Northampton the following year—the Iva Dee Hiatt Memorial Oratorio was established to honor her memory and continue her tradition of musical excellence among Smith College students.