She primarily composes vocal music, and has received especial acclaim for her work for women's voices.
Her works have been commissioned and performed around the world, including by The King's Singers (UK), the Heidelberg New Music Festival Ensemble, Renaissance Men, Chanticleer, and the Mannerquartett Schnittpunktvokal (Austria), in the Celebrity Series in Boston, at the Spoleto Festival Orchestra, and by Peter Sykes, Coro Allegro, and the Harvard University Choir.
[3] Her nine-movement work "Nine Orders of the Angels" was included by the ensemble Tapestry on their recording "Sapphire Night," which received Europe's prestigious 2005 Echo Klassik Prize.
Chamber Music America awarded "Album of the Year" to Tapestry's The Fourth River, which contained two of Van Ness's works.
[8] Prior to her work in choral music, Patricia (then known as Patti), was a violinist and vocalist with the Boston-based rock band Private Lightning, which released one album on A&M Records in 1980.