LIVESTREAM LINK: https://www.music.northwestern.edu/node/3970

Patrice Michaels, soprano and composer; Julian Velasco, saxophone; the Cavatina Duo (Eugenia Moliner, flute and Denis Azabagic, guitar); Nick Photinos, cello; Jason Carlson, Alan Darling, and Kuang-Hao Huang, piano

Hailed as “a formidable interpretative talent” (New Yorker) and “a voice that is light, rich and flexible” (Opera News), Patrice Michaels has appeared with the Shanghai, Czech National, St. Louis, Atlanta, and Minnesota orchestras, as well as Chicago’s Music of the Baroque. She debuted with the Cleveland Opera in Fidelio, sang in Candide at Lyric Opera of Chicago, and performed in Menotti’s The Mediumwith Chicago Opera Theater. Her compositions range from incidental music for Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream to her song cycle THE LONG VIEW: A Portrait of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Nine Songs. Her choral work Refugerecently premiered at the Kennedy Center. 

This 75-minute, no-intermission chamber recital—tailored to the beautiful acoustic and visual properties of Galvin Recital Hall—features Michaels with some of Chicago’s most dynamic and virtuosic performers, sharing a wonderful range of styles, poets, and moods. Featured composers include Ralph Vaughan Williams, Classical era composers Sophia Westenholz and W. A. Mozart, Giacomo Puccini, and jazz composers Chuck Israels and Laurie Altman. The poem “No hay olvido” by Pablo Neruda serves as the focal point of the performance’s literary experience, which also includes texts by Carl Sandburg and American folk ballads. 

Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid ID.

Award-winning female singers centerstage for Bellissima Opera’s International Women’s Day Concert #IWD2022 theme #BreaktheBias

Headlining event are award-winning sopranos Michelle Areyzaga, Jonita Lattimore and Christine Steyer, along with contralto Corinne Wallace-Crane. Accompanied by collaborative pianists Dana Brown and Jennifer McCabe.

“This extravaganza of female talent is designed to delight listeners with arias of opera’s favorite heroines, songs by local women composers, and more,” said Steyer, Artistic Director of Bellissima Opera. “We will ‘Break the Bias’ of beliefs that women have not made equal contributions as composers/lyricists, by shining a spotlight on rarely performed gems.”

Local composers are Lita Grier, Lena J. McLin, Patrice Michaels & Elizabeth Rudolph. The event will also showcase music from "Future Perfect*–a modern fairytale,” set to the lyrics of young women from Lane Tech College Prep & Senn High Schools.

Guest artists are M.G. Bertulfo, emcee and author, who will read from her novel-in-progress about a young Filipino girl, and Kumu Hula June Kaililani Tanoue with a performance by Halau I Ka Pono. Images by Japanese artist Mimei Sakamoto will serve as magnificent backdrops. Claudia Hommel, Working In Concert’s Executive Director, will open the event.

Concert is 75 minutes - no intermission. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Attendees arrive by 6:45 p.m. and show proof of vaccination and ID. VIP reception with artists follows, on-site. Tickets: $25, $40 with VIP reception. $10 students. Brown Paper Tickets: iwd2022oakpark.bpt.me or at door if not sold out.

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church is accessible. Free street parking is available.

Bellissima Opera presents innovative classical concert experiences. It is an initiative of Working in Concert which educates, advocates for, and mobilizes a global community of singers who use the art of song to empower lives and build community.

*World premiere of David Shenton's Future Perfect, commissioned by Bellissima Opera/Working In Concert, at the Kehrein Center for the Arts in Chicago this June.

Join us as we present a musical experience you won’t want to miss!  Ruth and Marty Ginsburg were avid music-lovers. They raised their two children, Jane and James, to love opera, symphonic music, and chamber works (ballet didn't take for James, but it's a funny story).

Now a Chicagoan and President of local nonprofit label Cedille Records, James will join his wife, Patrice Michaels, composer and soprano, and baritone Evan Bravos in an intimate setting and talk about life and music in the Ginsburg household.  Family photos, infamous anecdotes, and musical treasures will abound!

Evan Bravos and soprano Patrice Michaels will sing selections from Michaels’ song cycle THE LONG VIEW: A Portrait of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Nine Songs. Patrice will also sing local composer Stacy Garrop’s heartbreaking setting of Marty's final letter to Ruth.

Registration Closes on Tuesday, Feb 1.
Webinar zoom instructions will be emailed to the attendee list on the morning of Wednesday, Feb 2. (Your receipt is emailed separately).

Click here to register

Northwestern’s treble choir Camerata returns with a program of folk songs and hymns, centered on Refuge, a work by Bienen School voice and opera program lecturer Patrice Michaels.

Conductor: Jack Reeder
Pianist: Chuck Foster

Reserve Free Tickets

The LCA Annual Benefit is BACK with inspiring performances and interviews celebrating the Year of Chicago Music. Honoring Jim Ginsburg, founder Cedille Records; Mary Lane, Chicago blues legend; Jimmy Johnson, blues guitarist and singer; and Katie and Tim Tuten, Chicago venue anchors The Hideout.

Celebrate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life and legacy – in song! This 75-minute, no-intermission dramatic concert was created by RBG’s daughter-in-law, Patrice Michaels. She and her castmates Michelle Areyzaga, Matt Dean and Evan Bravos with pianist Kuang-Hao Huang share RBG’s story in a jazz-meets-classical performance of songs about her amazing life, and the people who loved and were influenced by her.