The Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra and Chorus is proud to announce the three exceptional vocal soloists for our upcoming performances of Carl Orff's
CARMINA BURANA. (Ticket information may be found below this post.)
Patrice Michaels, soprano
“Like the Romantic ideal of art, Patrice Michaels’ 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).
Concert engagements include appearances 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 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, has sung 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 her alma mater Pomona College, Northwestern University and Harvard. www.patricemichaels.com
Ian McEuen, tenor
Ian McEuen most recently appeared as the Marquis in Corigliano’s Ghosts of Versailles with the Aspen Opera Theatre Center. Last summer, he graduated with honors from Carnegie Mellon University, where he performed the roles of Nanki-Poo in the Mikado, the Chevalier de la Force in Dialogues of the Carmelites, Sam Kaplan in Street Scene, and Amore in L’incoronazione di Poppea. His previous oratorio experience includes Uriel in Haydn’s Creation and the Tenor Soloist in Handel’s Messiah, both with the Carnegie Mellon choirs. An avid recitalist and proponent of 20th and 21st century music, Ian recently performed Britten’s Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo and the world premiere of Kate Pukinskis’s A Game of Glass. He has also performed multiple times in Pittsburgh Opera’s Brown Bag Concert Series with pianist James Lesniak. Ian is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including most recently the third place and Seagle Colony awards in the Charles A. Lynam Vocal Competition, a Shirley Rabb Winston Scholarship, and Second Place in the Sue Goetz Ross Memorial Competition. He is currently working towards his masters in voice at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, where he will be performing as Romboïdal in Offenbach's L'ile de Tulipatan.
A native of San Antonio, Texas, baritone Jacob Lassetter is achieving triumphant success with his dignified characterizations, unique range of high notes, and richness of tone quality.
In 2010, Jacob Lassetter returned to his signature role Germont in La Traviata at the Music by the Lake summer festival, which he first sang in his Italian debut at the Teatro Accademico in Castelfranco Veneto. This summer also marked Mr. Lassetter’s debut in the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro with the Peninsula Music Festival. Critical acclaim followed his recent performances as a featured soloist with the Lexington Philharmonic in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Orff’s Carmina Burana.
Mr. Lassetter’s operatic repertoire includes the tile of role of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, and Griswold in The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe. He performed the title character of Delling in Eric Chasalow’s new opera The Puzzle Master in the Midwestern Premiere. Jacob Lassetter has participated in the Young Artists Programs of Chautauqua Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, and Utah Festival Opera. Equally adept on the concert stage, Jacob Lassetter has been the featured soloist for numerous symphony organizations, performing Händel’s Messiah, Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine and Bach’s St. John Passion, St. Matthew Passion, Christmas and Easter Oratorios, and Missa Brevis in F. In 2008, he made his debut at New York City’s Carnegie Hall performing with his wife, soprano Karen Kanakis.
Mr. Lassetter holds a Bachelor of Music degree, magna cum laude, from Louisiana State University, a Master of Music degree from the University of North Texas, and the Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
