Rebecca Wascoe Hays

Rebecca Wascoe Hays' lush, full-bodied soprano and commanding stage presence have brought her diverse critical acclaim. She brings an innate dramatic intensity and musical intelligence to all her repertoire.

In past seasons, she has sung the title role in Tosca with Louisiana Opera, been heard as the Wife in the world-premiere performance of The Breath of Life at Texas Tech University and been featured as the soprano soloist in Verdi's Requiem with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra.

Additional concerts have included recitals/masterclasses at Brigham Young University, Central Oklahoma University and The University of Texas at Arlington. She was recently heard as the soprano soloist in the Brahm's Requiem at Alice Tully Hall in New York City's Carnegie Hall.

Additionally, she's sung the role of Lidoine in Dialogues des Carmélites with Louisiana Opera, sang Micaëla in Carmen with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, and played Mrs. Banks in Mary Poppins with Lubbock Moonlight Musicals. She was also heard in recital singing Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder for the Chicago Wagner Society, University of Portland, Texas Tech University, and on the Voces Intimae concert series in Dallas, Texas. She was seen as Nedda in I Pagliacci at Musica alla Ponte (Florence, Italy). Additionally, Rebecca has embodied the roles of Agathe in Der Freischütz, Fiordiligi in Cosí fan tutte, Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, Leonora in La Forza del Destino, Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, Ann Putnam in The Crucible, Leonore in Fidelio, and both Mimì and Musetta in La Bohème.

Wascoe Hays is an avid promoter of contemporary American composers. She collaborated in commissioning a song cycle from American composer, Libby Larsen, and premiered the work, The Magdalene at Baylor University in 2013 and has since performed it in venues across the globe. Hays' is a recorfing artist for both Centaur and Albany Records. Her albums, “A Strange Wild Song,” and “Nuit d'Étoiles: The Forgotten Songs of Charles-Marie Widor,” I are available internationally on all major streaming platforms for Albany Records. Her latest album,

“La-Captive: Songs of Charles-Marie Widor,” was released by Centaur Records in 2022 and her newest album, “Deliverance: Duets and Songs by Charles-Marie Widor” is scheduled for international release in 2023 with Centaur.

An active recitalist and soloist, she appeared recently at Chicago Symphony Hall with the Elgin Symphony in Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem, and with the Lubbock Chorale in Mozart's Vespers. She has performed the solos in Beethoven's 9th Symphony, Mahler's 3rd Symphony, Rutter's Magnificat, Saint-Saens' Christmas Oratorio, Fauré's Requiem, and Händel's Messiah amongst others with regional symphonies in the United States. Dr. Wascoe Hays has twice been a winner of the Gerda Lissner Foundation Award and has placed in the Sigma Alpha Iota Graduate Performance Awards. She was a Finalist in the Charles A. Lynam and Opera Company of the Quad Cities Competitions and has been recognized as a finalist or semi-finalist in many other international competitions, including: Merola, the Marguerite McCammon Competition, Dallas Opera Guild, Opera Birmingham, Irma M. Cooper Opera Columbus Competition, and the Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation. She is a recipient of the Sigma Alpha Iota Doctoral Grant and continues to present recitals and masterclasses nationally and internationally.

Dr. Wascoe Hays is the Artistic Director of Music in the Marche, an operatic training program for young singers, as well as a chamber music festival, located in Mondavio, Italy each summer.

She also serves as the Studio Administrator for the Amarillo Opera Studio; a new initiative developed by Dr. Hays and TTU Alumna, Mary Jane Johnson, General Director of the Amarillo Opera. This partnership allows TTU graduate-level singers the opportunity to apprentice with AO while furthering their education. Her true passion is her students, who are teaching at universities throughout the United States, as well as in successful K-12 programs, and are also working in elite arts organizations. Additionally, many of the students she's taught are maintaining successful singing careers, performing in respected operatic, musical theater, and contemporary music venues, as well as various young artist programs.