Description:

Patrice Michaels, soprano and composer; Julian Velasco, saxophone; the Cavatina Duo (Eugenia Moliner, flute and Denis Azabagic, guitar); Nick Photinos, cello; Jason Carlson 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 Medium with 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 Refuge recently 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 composer Sophia Westenholz, 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.