With “tones of pure gold” (Washington Post), Michelle Rice brings to her work a rich timbre and performance intensity. Before a recent change to dramatic soprano repertoire, Rice was hailed as a standout in mezzo repertoire, appearing in such roles as Herodias (Salome), Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), Flora Bervoix (La traviata), Lola (Cavalleria rusticana), Carmen and Mercedes (Carmen), the Witch and the Mother (Hansel and Gretel), Antonia’s Mother (Les contes d’Hoffmann), Gertude (Roméo et Juliette), Marcellina (Le nozze di Figaro), Sesto (La clemenza di Tito), and Serse and Arsamene (Serse), with companies including West Bay Opera, Opera San José, Fresno Grand Opera, Opera Cleveland, Annapolis Opera, Pasadena Opera, New Orleans Opera, and other organizations throughout the United States.

Career highlights include performances of Mrs. Grose in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw at the Kennedy Center conducted by Lorin Maazel, the role of Dorabella (Così fan tutte) with acclaimed film director Jonathan Lynn, and Dominick Argento’s Pulitzer Prize-winning monodrama From the Diary of Virginia Woolf, performed for the composer.

Performances of 20th- and 21st-century repertoire have included the roles of Savitri (Savitri), the Mother (Amahl and the Night Visitors), Mrs. Olsen (Street Scene), the Secretary (The Consul), Mère Marie (Dialogues des Carmélites), Anna (Tobias and the Angel), Jade Boucher (Dead Man Walking), Sidia Gruenfeld (Lost Childhood), Madre Melchora in the world premiere of Carla Lucero’s Juana with Opera UCLA, and the role of Kathy Hagen in Terence Blanchard’s Champion: An Opera in Jazz. Rice created the title role in Clara, an opera by Robert Convery based on the life of Clara Schumann. Of that performance, the Washington Post declared, “Rice was…reflective and confident in both her singing and acting... [she] excelled at dramatic subtleties and pierced scenes with her presence and clarity of voice–especially compelling during revelatory biographical moments.” 

On the concert stage, Rice has performed the mezzo solos in Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Händel’s Messiah, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Schubert’s Mass No. 5, Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri, Elgar’s The Music Makers, Carlos Fonseca’s Missa Afro-Brasileira, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mussorgsky’s Songs and dances of death, among others, as well as the soprano solo in Korngold’s Passover Psalm, with groups including the Berkeley Symphony, Washington Concert Opera, and MidAmerica Productions at Carnegie Hall. Her concert performances have run the gamut from the mezzo solo in a lauded performance of the Verdi Requiem with James Morris and Sharon Sweet, to a video presentation of the aria “To this we’ve come” from Menotti’s The Consul, featured in the National Museum of American Jewish History’s program celebrating Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s 88th birthday. Rice’s recital programs feature song cycles such as Mohammed Fairouz’ Jeder Mensch with texts from the diary of Alma Mahler, and Ned Rorem’s Evidence of Things Not Seen.

Rice is exploring producing new classical works for the voice as an additional creative avenue. In 2021, she commissioned, produced, and performed a video recital of new works for the voice by UCLA student composers called Song Gallery. In 2022, she commissioned, fully produced, and performed a one-act chamber opera about Lady Macbeth called The Queen, My Lord, Is Dead. The premiere of The Queen was an outstanding success, and the creative team is preparing a studio recording of the opera for release and pursuing additional productions of the work.

Appearances in 2023 include performances as the soloist in a new interdisciplinary work by Shahab Paranj at the Herb Alpert School of Music, in the role of Brangäne in a concert performance of Act II of Die Walküre with the Series on Royal Square, as a featured performer in the Halloween concert “One Foot in the Grave” with the UCLA Philharmonia, and as the mezzo soloist in Corigliano’s Fern Hill with the San Francisco Choral Society.

Rice holds degrees from the University of Maryland Opera Studio (Master of Music), and the University of California Los Angeles (Doctor of Musical Arts).