“Like the Romantic ideal of art, Patrice Michaels’s voice is both natural and Passionate” says Classical CD Digest. “A formidable interpretative talent” (The New Yorker), Ms. Michaels receives raves for her “poise, musicianship and impressive fioratura” (Los Angeles Times), “a voice that is light, rich and flexible” (Opera News), and “pinpoint-accurate … bravura” (Boston Globe). Recent seasons have included engagements with the Shanghai, Czech National, St. Louis, Omaha, Atlanta, Phoenix, Milwaukee, and Minnesota Orchestras, the Maryland Handel Festival, Dallas Bach Society and Charlotte, Kansas City and Virginia Symphonies, as well as New York’s Concert Royal and Chicago’s Music of the Baroque. Ms. Michaels has sung the Great Mass in C minor with Skrowaczewski, Christmas Oratorio with Shaw, Mahler 4 with Zdenek Macal, Mozart Arias with Andrew Parrott and Nicolas McGegan, Carmina Burana with Joanne Falletta and Beethoven 9 with Andreas Delfs and Victor Yampolsky.
Ms. Michaels includes in her operatic credits the Hal Prince production of Candide at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She made her debut in the 1990-91 season with the Cleveland Opera as Marzelline in Fidelio and has sung with Central City Opera, Tacoma Opera, The Banff Centre, Canada and Chicago Opera Theater. Her recording as Monica in Menotti’s The Medium (Cedille Records) continues to receive international critical acclaim. Recital appearances for Ms. Michaels include three consecutive seasons at the Festival of Contemporary Music in Havana, Cuba and tours of Mexico, Japan, Venezuela, Barbados and Belize. She performs frequently in the United States and Canada, including a recital with pianist John Browning for Music at the Supreme Court, as guest artist with the Chicago Chamber Musicians, for the Schubert Club of St. Paul and for many academic institutions, including Harvard, Northwestern and as guest clinician at the University of Tel Aviv.
This season begins for Ms. Michaels with the release of her latest disc on the Cedille label (which is her twentieth commercial recording): American Songs. She will appear with several of the ensembles of Lawrence University, record music of composer Laurie Altman in New York, sing in Beethoven's Symphony #9 with the Fox Valley Symphony, sing The Passion According to Saint John for Bach Week in Evanston, and conclude her season with the world premier of the chamber setting of David del Tredici's Final Alice with Alexander Platt at the Maverick Festival.
A Mozart specialist, Patrice Michaels promotes and tours a special concert, Divas of Mozart's Day. This dramatic program with duets and narration by internationally syndicated radio announcer Peter Van de Graaff was invited to Salzburg during the summer 2006 Anniversary celebrations. Ms. Michaels can be heard on the Amadis recording of the Requiem and on Music of the Baroque’s Great Mass in C Minor. The Divas of Mozart's Day on Cedille Records was released in 2002 and continues to garner international acclaim.
She has received consistent critical enthusiasm for her other recordings on the Cedille label, including Songs of the Classical Age; A Vivaldi Concert; The World of Lully; To Be Sung Upon the Water; Songs of the Romantic Age; 20th Century Baroque; Clearings in the Sky; The Virtuoso Handel; The Vorisek Mass in B Flat, La vie est une parade and her newest release, American Songs.
Ms. Michaels serves as Associate Professor of Opera Theater and Studio Voice at Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Appleton, Wisconsin.
Patrice Michaels' personal web page
Contact by e-mail: patrice.michaels@lawrence.edu