“Bass has only been at the helm since September, so we have a small sample size, but I sense that he has very high standards for soloists. The comic byplay of tenor Patrick Muehleise’s roasted swan and histrionics displayed by baritone Lee Poulis’s drunken abbot, not to mention soprano Oriana Falla’s stunning red dress, didn’t distract from some extraordinarily spectacular vocalism. Muehleise’s high tenor was perfect for the part, Poulis more sonorous and expressive than the usual, and Falla scaled the insane heights of ‘Dulcissime’ with ease while supplying a meltingly lovely ‘In trutina.’ ”
“Tenor Patrick Muehleise could refine his lyric sound down to the thinnest thread of tone and he blended mellifluously with Edd’s darker sonority”
“Patrick Muehleise’s tenor was pure of tone in Schubert’s “Nachthelle,” backed by four male voices.”
“The excellent tenor Patrick Muehleise brought real musicality and finely executed coloratura runs to his solos.”
“In “Confitebor tibi Domine,” Rood’s pitch-perfect combination of fervor and flexibility, Patrick Muehleise’s beautiful, evenly produced lyric tenor and James K. Bass’ robust bass blended in coloratura writing that seemed to presage the world of bel canto opera that lay ahead.”
“In the more formal pages of Tomas Luis de Victoria’s setting of Regina caeli, the striking timbres of sopranos Margot Rood and Sarah Moyer, alto Luthien Brackett and tenor Patrick Muehleise were astutely balanced with the vibrancy of the full contingent.”
“The vocal soloists all were quite fine, especially tenors Thomas Cooley, Patrick Muhleise and Colin Ainsworth, and sopranos Yulia Van Doren and Agnes Zsigovics. Cooley, Music of the Baroque’s artist-in-residence this season, sang with deep expressivity in the solo motet “Nigra sum” and in the “echo” exchanges with another singer stationed in the rear choir loft. The joining of all three tenor voices for the melismatic “Duo Seraphim” was beautifully achieved, as was the blend of the two sopranos in the unabashedly sensuous “Pulchra es.””
“Solo turns by bass James Bass, tenor Patrick Muehleise and soprano Sarah Moyer were not only beautifully executed but rendered with moving restraint.”