Baritone Patrick Wilhelm’s sound has been praised as “ardent” and “burnished” (Broad Street Review), as well as having a “distinctive timbre” (Philadelphia Magazine) and “gorgeously plush color” (Parterre Box). In the 2024-25 season, Patrick joins Virginia Opera’s Herndon Foundation Emerging Artists Program, performing in main stage productions of Don Giovanni (Masetto) and Carmen (Le Dancaïre). Additionally, he covers the roles of Richard Loving and Bernard Cohen in the world premiere of Loving v. Virginia, also appearing in the chorus of that production and as a soloist in their outreach program, Building a Loving Community.
This summer, Patrick works with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as a Gerdine Young Artist, covering the roles of Schaunard in La bohéme and Fiorello in The Barber of Seville. In the 2023-24 season, Patrick returned to the Curtis Institute of Music to give performances of Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra and Angélica Negrón’s Dóabin with Ensemble 20/21. He also returned to Wolf Trap Opera last summer as a Studio Artist, where he covered Valentin in Gounod’s Faust.
In 2022, Patrick was engaged by Wolf Trap Opera as Marchese d’Obigny in La traviata and Elder McLean (cover) in Floyd’s Susannah. Following this, he appeared with the Greater South Jersey Chorus as the soloist in Vaughn Williams’ Five Mystical Songs. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Patrick was additionally able to perform a 2021 tour of Schubert’s Die Winterreise with collaborator Mikael Eliasen, culminating in a performance for the Aspen Socrates Institute.
Among many highlights of Patrick’s studies at Curtis are a film adaptation of Blitzstein’s Triple-Sec in the role of Hopkins, directed by Alek Shrader; Guglielmo in Mozart’s Così fan tutte; Paul in Rene Orth’s Empty the House (a co-production between Opera Philadelphia and Curtis); and a concert appearance of Mozart opera ensembles under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Additional roles include Sid (Albert Herring), Sam (Trouble in Tahiti), Aeneas (Dido and Aeneas), Pelléas (Impressions de Pelléas), Junius (The Rape of Lucretia), Bill (A Quiet Place), Zaretsky (Eugene Onegin), and Mr. Gobineau (The Medium), all with Curtis Opera Theatre, as well as Demetrius in (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) with Hawaii Performing Arts Festival in 2019.
Patrick’s passion for art song and concert repertoire stems from his formative years collaborating with pianist Mikael Eliasen, as well as summers spent singing in masterclasses and studying under Dalton Baldwin at Mozarteum Sommerakademie in Salzburg and L’Académie Internationale d’Été de Nice. He has performed a diverse array of new music and old gems alike, both in Philadelphia and throughout the United States with Curtis On Tour. Memorable performances include those of works by Julius Eastman and David Del Tredici with Ensemble 20/21; The Millennium Requiem by Larence H. Smith in Duxbury, MA; Poulenc’s Le bal masqué; Brahms’ Liebeslieder Walzer, op. 52, Acht Lieder op. 57, and Vier Ernste Gesänge; Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn; Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte, and Strauss’ Vier Lieder, op. 27.