Donna Elvira / Don Giovanni (Metropolitan Opera)
“Patricia Schuman…her voice has affecting colors, presence and agility. The dignity of her singing created an ironic counterpoint to the indignities Donna Elvira submits herself to.
The New York Times / A Tommasini
Duchess of Argyll / Powder her Face by Thomas Ades (Opera Philadelphia, Boston Opera)
“On only several weeks’ notice, the emotionally and vocally demanding role of the Duchess was assumed by Patricia Schuman. Schuman gave a sensational account of the role.”
Opera News / David Shengold
“Schuman is a flawless fit for the part, playing the lady with an elegant exterior that hides a rotten, soulless core. Her supple, athletic soprano meets the demands of this music, with a cool center and hot upper end. The more titillating moments (the infamous “humming” sex scene) are played straight, and are funnier as a result.”
Broadway World / Marakay Rogers
“As the duchess, soprano Patricia Schuman was haughty but elegant and sang the difficult score with full-bodied sound.”
The Opera Critic / Steve Cohen
“Star performance Patricia Schuman, who portrays Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, manages to keep a strict upper crust appearance with such a lady-like persona that it is challenging to think that the Duchess could be such a flagrant provocateur. Ms. Schuman is a convincing Duchess…throughout she is fully in command of the stage, while the rich tones of her soprano portray the fact that she is every bit the diva of the opera.”
philly.com / Peter Dobrin
Vitellia / La Clemenza di Tito by Mozart (Royal Opera House, Salzburg, Glyndebourne)
“Patricia Schuman, playing Joan Collins playing Vitellia with sly restraint and wit, made light of the role’s formidable difficulties, the top of the voice brightly secure, the bottom smokely colored and used to tinglingly seductive effect.”
The London Times
“Patricia Schuman excels as the turbulent Vitellia - simmering with lust, panting for revenge and finally distraught with remorse. She commands the proceedings with gorgeous clarity and purity of tone, managing her huge vocal leaps with ease.”
Business Life
“Patricia Schuman made a deliciously villainous Vitellia, rising to the formidable vocal demands of the role and displaying an evenness of tone throughout her considerable range."
Opera magazine
“As at Glyndebourne last summer, the American Patricia Schuman enjoys herself hugely as a glam soap-opera megabitch Vitellia, and sings with panache in this notoriously problematic part’s wide range.”
Sunday Times (London) / Hugh Canning
Alice Ford / Falstaff by Verdi (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden)
“Most pleasing of all is Patricia Schuman’s delicious Alice Ford, her soprano full and focused.
The Times (London) / John Allison
"The merry wives are led by Patricia Schuman’s Alice Ford, who has bags of spirit and a characterful soprano timbre with a fast vibrato.”
Financial Times / Richard Fairman
“Of the performers, Patricia Schuman is a thrilling and luminous Alice Ford.”
Metro / Warwick Thompason
Genoveva by Robert Schumann
“The American soprano Patricia Schuman is a formidable Genoveva, her voice at all times secure and her acting more than capable of moving on from the opera house.”
Yorkshire Evening Post / M. Woods
“Patricia Schuman sang the title role, showing off her beautiful colored middle register, and doing her best with the dramatic content.”
Wall Street Journal / Paul Levy
The Mother / Breaking the Waves by Missy Mazzoli
“…maintaining clarity over a wide range when using a convincing Scottish brogue—an accent shared only by her disapproving mother (the steady, effective Patricia Schuman).”
Opera News / David Shengold
Grandma Mills / The House without a Christmas Tree by Ricky Gordon
“They live in his mother’s house, played by soprano Patricia Schuman with lots of love and maybe too much patience for her emotionally crippled son.
Theater Jones / Gregory S. Isaacs
Agrippina by Handel
“Agrippina..from Patricia Schuman’s beautiful deceiver and her mezzo colored Soprano is perpetually a great fascination.”
Die Rheinplatz / M. Lanzendorfer
The Commander / The Voyage by Philip Glass (world premiere)
“The huge cast - especially Patricia Schuman in the murderous role of the Commander - was faultless.
Daily News / Bill Zakariasen
“Tatiana Troyanos and Patricia Schuman in the murderous lavished artistry on Glass’s newly expressive, testing and rewarding vocal lines.”
The Times (London) / Rodney Milnes
Bloody Mary / South Pacific
“Schuman brings humor, energy, cunning and poignance as Bloody Mary and sings a dreamy “Bali Ha’i” and a delightful ‘Happy Talk.’”
Hartford Courant / Frank Rizzo
“Equally satisfying is Schuman’s performance as the foul-mouthed, entrepreneurial Bloody Mary. If you didn’t read the program you would never know that she is famous for portraying Mozart heroines, for her Bloody Mary is as crass and down-to-earth as you could wish for…”
CT Critics Circle / Geary Danihy
“One of the biggest scene stealers in this show is Patricia Schuman as Bloody Mary. She makes a gangbusters entrance, bringing this comic character to life.”
Theater Mirror / Tony Annicone