Patrick Gardner
Patrick Gardner's performances have been acclaimed by New York audiences, critics and an international roster of composers whose works he has conducted. Since 1993 he has been the Director of Choral Activities at Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts, where he conducts the Rutgers University Glee Club and the Rutgers Kirkpatrick Choir. He is also the director of the Riverside Choral Society in New York City.

In addition to his regular rehearsals at Rutgers University and with RCS, he has prepared choruses to join with the Philadelphia Singers for a performance of Schönberg's Gurrelieder with Sir Simon Rattle and the Philadelphia Orchestra, guided RCS in its radio debut as part of the Wall-to-Wall Kurt Weill Festival at Symphony Space and prepared RCS for its third appearance in Avery Fisher Hall, singing Robert Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri for the Mostly Mozart Festival. In the summer of 2002 he prepared the Riverside Choral Society to sing Beethoven's Choral Fantasy with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Mozart Mass in C Minor with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra.

Active in premiering new music, he has won the praise of such notable composers as Lukas Foss, John Harbison, William Bolcom, Leslie Bassett and William Albright. Mr. Gardner acted as the chorus master for the internationally acclaimed Robert Altman production of Stravinsky's Rake's Progress at the Opera de Lille in France. Mr. Gardner has recorded for Albany, Ethereal and Folkways records.

In 2000 he presented the premiere of The Miracle written by Pulitzer Prize winning composer William Bolcom. The Rutgers Glee Club was selected to perform in March 2001 at the American Choral Director's Association.

Mr. Gardner has been active as a conductor of opera in New York City and has prepared choruses for the Brooklyn Philharmonic for performances at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Mr. Gardner recently prepared the Rutgers University Concert Choir for a performance of Lou Harrison's La Koro Sutro at the 92nd Street Y's Tisch Center of the Arts. Mr. Gardner has conducted over sixty major choral works with orchestra in the past ten years and has prepared choruses for the Philadelphia Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, the Austin Symphony, and a presentation of the Berlioz Requiem conducted by Robert Shaw.

He has conducted and lectured in thirty states, Canada, and the Bahamas, and has presented concerts in fifteen European countries, including performances at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the Glinka Cappella at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Mr. Gardner's performances have been described in the press as "impressive","excellent", "expertly controlled and balanced" (New York Times), and "passionate" and "brilliantly effective" (NJ Star Ledger). Referring to Mr. Gardner's programming, Paul Somers of the New Jersey Star Ledger commented "each piece was philosophical in content, carrying difficulties of execution worthy of the finest choirs." In lauding that program, the critic noted the group's "clean diction, accurate intonation" and Dr. Gardner's "finely tuned sensitivity."

Contact: Email: pgardner@rci.rutgers.edu | Music 214 | 732-932-1799