Featured Recording

Notorious RBG in Song

Cedille Records

A musical tribute to legal pioneer Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her 25 years on the United States Supreme Court in song, story and images.Soprano-composer Patrice Michaels, a vocalist of “spectacular and diverse gifts” (Journal of Singing), illuminates Justice Ginsburg’s personal and professional life in her nine-song cycle THE LONG VIEW and selections by Vivian Fung, Stacy Garrop, Lori Laitman and Derrick Wang.

LISTEN

Divas of Mozart’s Day

Cedille Records

Acclaimed soprano Patrice Michaels evokes the leading prima donnas of classical-period Vienna by singing pieces tailored to their talents by Mozart and fellow composers Salieri, Martin y Soler, Cimarosa, Righini, and Stephen Storace. 

Purchase: CD · iTunes
Listen: Spotify · Apple Music

Menotti: the Medium

Cedille Records

Oft-performed but mysteriously absent on recordings, Menotti's eerie opera The Medium has materialized in its first recording in more than a quarter century. This two-act "musical drama" is about a fake psychic whose surprise encounter with the unknown leads to murder and mayhem. It is stage a dozen times annually in the US alone. Yet, recordings haven't been available for years, and (until now) it has never appeared on CD.

Purchase: CD · iTunes
Listen: Spotify · Apple Music

Soli Deo Gloria: Bach Week Live in Concert

BWE Recordings

Live recordings of Patrice with the Bach Week Festival Orchestra, Richard Webster, conducting movements from the “Wedding Cantata” BWV 202 and “Jauchzet Gott In Allen Landen” BWV 51.

Purchase: Amazon

Mozart: Requiem, Ave Verum

Amadis

Recorded in Chicago’s St. Clement Church with the St. Clement Choir and Orchestra, this disc includes Josef Haydn’s Te Deum in addition to the Mozart Requiem (featuring Ms. Michaels and the solo ensemble) and a full chorus rendition of the beloved Ave Verum.

Purchase: CD · iTunes
Listen: Spotify · Apple Music

Mozart Mass in C Minor

Music of the Baroque

Recorded at First United Methodist Church in Evanston, Illinois, this reading of the ineffably beautiful and fiendishly challenging “Et incarnatus est” earns Ms. Michaels her reputation as a master interpreter of Mozart. Her performances of this work with Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and the Milwaukee Symphony garner this review: “..extraordinary richness and beauty…she filled each note to the brim with nuance [and] sang as if in a state of grace.”  —Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Currently unavailable for purchase.

Intersection: Jazz Meets Classical Song

Cedille Records

Acclaimed lyric soprano Patrice Michaels, "a formidable interpretative talent" (The New Yorker), conceived and headlines this inventive, wide-ranging two-disc project of 26 songs where classical music and jazz find common ground in ways that will delight fans of both musical genres.

Purchase: CD · iTunes
Listen: Spotify · Apple Music

Convergence: Music of Laurie Altman

Neos

With Clipper Erickson, piano; Scott Lee, double bass; Andrew Rathbun, tenor saxophone; Helen Rathbun, flute;

Purchase: CD · iTunes
Listen: Spotify · Apple Music

On Course: the Music of Laurie Altman

Troy

Ms. Michaels sings “Calle de la Amargura” (Street of Bitterness) for soprano, flute and piano, and the unaccompanied song cycle “States of Waiting” on texts by David Herrstrom. The recording also includes “South of New Jersey” for string quartet, “Theme, Variations and Finale” for two pianos, and the song cycle “On Course” featuring baritone Elem Ely. “[Michaels] is simply amazing. Her purity of utterance, her superb diction and, above all, her affinity for Altman’s chosen moe of expression all demand the highest respect. This is gripping, hypnotic stuff…” —Fanfare

Purchase: CD · iTunes
Listen: Spotify · Apple Music

La Vie est une Parade

Cedille Records

This unique program features Benjamin Britten's evocative masterpiece for soprano and strings, Les Illuminations, and Darius Milhaud's rarely-recorded vocal tour de force, originally written for Lily Pons, Quatre Chansons de Ronsard; along with delightful rarities by Erik Satie and Germaine Tailleferre (the only female member of "Les Six").

Purchase: CD · iTunes
Listen: Spotify · Apple Music

The Virtuoso Handel

Cedille Records

This delightful collection of vocal and instrumental chamber music earns its name for both composer and performers, featuring virtuosic aria transcriptions framing three cantatas, a viol da gamba sonata and harpsichord solo transcription. 
“Dramatic in ‘La Lucrezia’ and sweet in two intimate love cantatas, she negotiates difficult intervals and interpolates elaborate embellishments with a feeling of spontaneity. “ —Cleveland Plain Dealer

Purchase: CD · iTunes
Listen: Spotify · Apple Music

The World of Lully

Cedille Records

The movie that sparked interest in French baroque music, 1991's Tous les matins du monde, centered on viol virtuoso Marin Marais and his teacher Sainte-Colombe. But music in the age of Louis XIV actually revolved around the formidable composer and impresario Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687), the dominant star in the Sun King's musical galaxy.

Purchase: CD · iTunes
Listen: Spotify · Apple Music

To be Sung upon the Water

Cedille Records

Soprano Patrice Michaels relishes ambitious recording projects that demand an inordinate range of vocal and intellectual talent -- projects the average modern diva couldn't attempt. This CD presents performances ranging from dramatic characterizations in Letters from Composers to flat-out coloratura in Vaughan Williams' Three Vocalises for Soprano and Clarinet.

Purchase: CD · iTunes
Listen: Spotify · Apple Music

A Vivaldi Concert

Cedille Records

When people think of Vivaldi, they think of concertos, which represent only about half of his nearly 800 compositions. Vocal music? Mostly forgotten.

A Vivaldi Concert, performed by the Chicago Baroque Ensemble with guest artist Patrice Michaels, soprano, opens a unique vista on the Venetian composer. It's an invigoratingly diverse program of Vivaldi's vocal and instrumental works, none of them over-recorded.

Purchase: CD · iTunes
Listen: Spotify · Apple Music

20th Century Baroque

Cedille Records

The Rembrandt Chamber Players perform 20th-century works for Baroque ensemble and harpsichord on their debut recording with Cedille Records.

Purchase: CD · iTunes
Listen: Spotify · Apple Music

LUPE: Lawrence University Percussion Ensemble

Lawrence University

Ms. Michaels is featured in the monumental “Cantata para America Magica” by Alberto Ginastera.

Currently unavailable for purchase.

Notorious RBG in Song

Cedille Records

A musical tribute to legal pioneer Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her 25 years on the United States Supreme Court in song, story and images.Soprano-composer Patrice Michaels, a vocalist of “spectacular and diverse gifts” (Journal of Singing), illuminates Justice Ginsburg’s personal and professional life in her nine-song cycle THE LONG VIEW and selections by Vivian Fung, Stacy Garrop, Lori Laitman and Derrick Wang.

Purchase: CD · iTunes
Listen: Spotify · Apple Music

American Songs

Cedille Records

My idea for this disc is to share some of the best and most varied current literature for voice and piano. The composers represented here include well-recognized and less familiar names, all of whom are living. They take their inspiration from poems and prose both ancient and modern, exotic and mundane. They rework time-honored musical forms and develop new ones. Their compositional methods range from simple to virtuosic.

Purchase: CD · iTunes
Listen: Spotify · Apple Music

Music of Edward Joseph Collins · Volume V

Albany Records

Maestro Collins was highly regarded as a pianist and conductor, and indeed, would have been the first American to conduct at Bayreuth, had WWI not intervened. Following his service in the Armed Forces, he returned to the Midwest, played and conducted, and composed a surprising body of works. This volume in the Complete Works series includes 15 songs sung by Ms. Michaels, with texts ranging from well-known poems of the day to unattributed material that may be Collins’ own. Includes the Arabesque for violin and piano and the Suite for Violoncello and Piano.

Purchase: CD · iTunes
Listen: Spotify · Apple Music

Clearings in the Sky

Cedille Records

Lili Boulanger was a brilliant and precocious French composer who dazzled the world of European music at the beginning of the 20th century. In her short career, Boulanger advanced the impressionism of her era, finding her own voice in music that's expressive and luminous, moving and enchanting. To place Boulanger's music in context, this album offers songs by prominent French composers who had a connection to her music: Fauré, Ravel, Debussy, Messiaen, and Honegger.

Purchase: CD · iTunes
Listen: Spotify · Apple Music

Songs of the Classical Age

Cedille Records

While the classical era is synonymous with Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert, Songs of the Classical Age illuminates a host of other composers of the Age of Enlightenment, along with less-familiar works by the aforementioned titans.

Soprano Patrice Michaels, with keyboard artist David Schrader on fortepiano, performs an exceptionally wide-ranging program of 27 songs in four languages by 17 composers, including seven women and a Black composer from the French Caribbean.

Purchase: CD · iTunes
Listen: Spotify · Apple Music

Songs of the Romantic Age

Cedille Records

Coloratura soprano Patrice Michaels, best-known for her interpretations of Mozart, baroque, and contemporary music makes her solo recording debut with 25 Romantic songs by 25 composers on this CD.

Purchase: CD · iTunes
Listen: Spotify · Apple Music

Introducing Patrice Michaels

Cedille Records

The program includes "Monicas Waltz" from Menottis The Medium; a Vivaldi cantata; a Lully divertissement; and songs by Haydn, Colbran, Dalayrac, Mendelssohn, Mussorgsky, Delibes, Fauré, Honegger, Argento, Vaughan Williams, and Lili Boulanger.

Purchase: CD · Amazon

Music of Edward Jos. Collins, vol. VIII

Troy Records

Recent research has led to the discovery of several previously unknown works by Collins. A 1939 opera themed around the Civil War, “Daughter Of The South” tells the story of Mary Lou, born to a Confederate colonel but in love with a northerner. Her aria “Again The Year Has Come To The Spring” is presented here in piano reduction. “June Night” (1917) joins the collection of earlier songs from Volume V. Collins’ Opus 1 Piano Trio (Geronimo) and various solo piano works also included.

Purchase: CD · iTunes
Listen: Spotify · Apple Music

Music of Edward Jos. Collins, vol. X

Troy Records

The armistice following WWI found 88th Division Intelligence Section Pvt. Edward Collins re-assigned from his duties as interpreter to new responsibilities: creating entertainments for the American Expeditionary Force in France. “Who Can Tell,” began as a musical extravaganza put together in six weeks, with Collins composing nearly all the music. The show played for three weeks at Gondrecourt, moved into Germany to entertain the army of the occupation, and then was taken to Paris for a run at Theatre Champs Elysees before making its way home with the troops. Patrice sings “Love Is A Thing Divine” and “Clover Leaf Song,” both of which show Collins at his tuneful best. Various violin and piano works also included on this disc.

Purchase: CD · iTunes
Listen: Spotify · Apple Music

Classical Delight

Gabriella Records

Lesley Spencer melds classical, latin, jazz and new age styles into her own unique contemporary classical style, featuring guitarist Fareed Haque, saxophonist Jim Gailloreto, violinist Everett Zlatoff-Mirsky, sopranoPatrice Michaels, and the Glen Ellyn Children's Chorus. Three tracks from this album can be found in two documentaries and one film. Track #1 -"The Battle Of Marathon," was chosen for a 2006 Disney Film, STICK IT. Track #4 - "Heaven," is featured in the 2008 documentary, WHY THEY RUN. Track #11- "Tribute," is the title track and main theme of a PBS documentary released in 2005 called STONES FROM THE SOIL.

Currently unavailable for purchase.