Patrick Gardner
(he/him/his)
Distinguished Professor, Director of Choral Activities, Head of Conducting
pgardner@mgsa.rutgers.edu
Mortensen Hall Room A
Topics of Expertise
Choral music as community
Patrick Gardner is Distinguished Professor of Music at the Mason Gross School of the Arts. His performances have been acclaimed by New York audiences, critics, and an international roster of composers whose orchestral and choral works he has conducted.
Active in premiering new music, Gardner has won the praise of such notable composers as William Bolcom, John Harbison, Lou Harrison, Jennifer Higdon, Tarik O'Regan, and Lukas Foss. The performance of Lou Harrison's major works that Gardner conducted at Trinity Church Wall Street (New York City) was named in The New York Times list of "Best Classical Performances of 2017."
Now in his 28th season as director of the Riverside Choral Society, Gardner has prepared that ensemble for performances with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and at the Mostly Mozart Festival, as well as for a performance of Handel's L'Allegro for the Mark Morris Dance Group. He has conducted over 100 major works for chorus and orchestra, including Bach's B Minor Mass and Christmas Oratorio, the Mozart Requiem at Carnegie Hall, and Beethoven's Missa Solemnis at Lincoln Center with Riverside Choral Society and the Rutgers University Kirkpatrick Choir.
Gardner received his undergraduate degree in voice from California State University at Hayward and his master of music and doctor of musical arts degrees in choral conducting from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to moving to New York City to direct the Riverside Choral Society, he taught at the University of Michigan and the University of Texas at Austin. Gardner served on the 2011 grants panel of the National Endowment for the Arts. He has recorded for Folkways, Albany, and Ethereal records.