Singer, Teacher, Musical Storyteller
2019 brought overwhelming success with her musical revue “Grab Your Coat and Get Your Hat – The Life and Lyrics of Dorothy Fields” at The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, Persson Hall. The sold out show “Grab Your Coat” was written, performed, and produced by Patty with Broadway veteran Avery Sommers directing. Musical direction for the show by the cabaret and theatre icon, Bobby Peaco.
The lifeblood of Dorothy Fields is one of several intimate musical portraits that Patty has created and sung internationally. For Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, Israel, Patty has written and produced “Poems of Terezin”, cast locally with children of Jerusalem. Returning the following year, in 2016, to write “Bronislav Huberman’s Orchestra”, performed by members of the Israeli Philarmonic. “The Hannah Senesh Story”, was written by Patty at Yad Vashem in 2011. She continues to perform this project at related venues in the USA.
In Palm Beach County, Patty was a special projects producer for Legends Radio 2015. Her Jewish holiday programing strings worldwide on Dick Robison’s “Where Legendary Music Lives.” In addition, she has sung and produced holocaust related programing for YPO International, IPO. As a cantorial facilitator, her productions have showcased throughout the United States.
As a former classical singer of opera and oratorio, Patty made her debut with The Rochester Philarmonic in 1985. Patty appeared as soprano soloist with numerous symphonies worldwide including Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Syracuse Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Elgin and Traverse Symphony Orchestras and Orchestra of St. Lukes at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in the USA. In Europe, Patty maintained residence and appeared on opera and oratorio stages of Freiburg, Germany, Graz, Austria, and Lausanne and Lugano, Switzerland, among numerous other engagements and summer music festivals. Patty has sung under the baton of classical music’s most legendary conductors, David Zinman, Jesús López Cobos, Richard Buckley, Edo deWart, James Conlon, among numerous others.
Patty grew up in Traverse City, Michigan, and from a young age studied piano, voice, and theatre at The Interlochen Center for the Arts. Eight summers at the Aspen Music Festival from student to vocal fellow to professional are her fondest musical memories in performance and education.
Charles Ludlam the founder of NY’s Ridiculous Theatrical Company, cast her in his opera directing debut at The Santa Fe Opera in 1985. Her theatre training with Charles continued for several years until his death. She was a finalist in The International Pavarotti Voice Competition in 1986. That followed with extensive performing along with other winners for Holland America Line’s Opera Evenings. She premiered countless new works by American composers William Bolcom, Joseph Schwantner, and Samuel Adler, and the German composer Hans Werner Henze.
In 2021, Patty is actively producing both in Northern Michigan and in Palm Beach County.