Product Description 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. But why is Miss Michaels emphasizing music that's outside her "specialty"? "It's something I think all singers should be able to do," she says. "A couple generations ago, it wouldn't have seemed odd. The best singers were expected to perform Rachmaninov as well as Handel" The disc showcases Miss Michaels' bel canto vocalism through a comprehensive collection of songs spanning 85 years and 8 languages. Alongside works by vocal stalwarts Fauré and Schumann are rarely recorded songs by Godard, Pierné, Medtner, Mussorgsky, Resphighi, and even Chopin. The songs are grouped on the CD according to national flavor: France is represented by Godard, Debussy, Chausson, Bachelet, Fauré, and Pierné; Poland, by Chopin; Germany, by Schumann, Mendelssohn, Medtner, Brahms, Wolf, and Strauss; Russia, by Stravinsky, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, and Prokofiev; America, by Ives and Ganz; Scandinavia, by Sibelius; Italy, by Donaudy and Respighi; and Spain, by Falla and Delibes (a French composer whose song is very Spanish in character). Review A formidable interpretative talent. -- The New YorkerI can't possibly comment on every song, but I enjoyed them all. [She] deserves to be heard often. -- American Record GuideI don't think I have enough superlatives in my vocabulary to describe this recording adequately... -- Classical DisCDigest About the Artist Soprano Patrice Michaels concertizes extensively, appearing with noted ensembles including the Saint Louis, Atlanta, Milwaukee, San Antonio, Phoenix, Czech National, and Shanghai Symphonies; Minnesota Orchestra; Chicago's Grant Park Orchestra and Music of the Baroque; Maryland Handel Festival; Dallas Bach Society; Los Angeles Master Chorale; Chicago Baroque Ensemble; and Boston Baroque. Conductors with whom she has collaborated include Robert Shaw, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Nicolas McGegan, Joseph Silverstein, Anne Manson, Andrew Parrott, Zdenek Macal, Joanne Falletta, and Andreas Delfs. Ms. Michaels has sung with opera companies throughout North America including Lyric Opera of Chicago, Cleveland Opera, Milwaukee's Florentine Opera, Tacoma Opera, Colorado's Central City Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, and at the Banff Centre in Canada. She has appeared as recitalist in Japan, Cuba, Belize, Mexico, Venezuela, Barbados, and throughout North America. Her award-winning concert presentation Divas of Mozart's Day made its international debut in Salzburg in August 2006. This is Ms. Michaels's thirteenth release on the Cedille label and her twentieth commercial recording. Her recordings for other labels include Bach's St. Matthew Passion with Sir Georg Solti and the Chicago Symphony for London Records, Mozart's Requiem on the Amadis label, songs of Edward Joseph Collins on the Albany label, and Telemann's Day of Judgement and Mozart's C Minor Mass with Chicago's Music of the Baroque. Patrice Michaels is Associate Professor of Opera Theater and Studio Voice at Lawrence University's Conservatory of Music in Appleton, Wisconsin. See more