Education
BMus(Victoria), MA (New York, Stony Brook)
Profile
Patrick Carpenter was born in Nanaimo. He received his Bachelor of Music degree in music composition and theory with distinction from the University of Victoria, where he studied with Rudolf Komorous.
Patrick completed his Master of Arts degree in music composition at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where he studied with Bulent Arel.
He has been commissioned to write music for such diverse groups as the CBC Vancouver Orchestra, the Vancouver Christ Church Cathedral Choir, the Vancouver New Music Society Ensemble, the Nanaimo Youth Choir, the A Cappella Plus Chamber Choir, and the Nanaimo Chamber Orchestra; he has written electro/acoustic tape music and computer music and choral pieces with texts by local artist/writer Nelly Kazenbroot and Australian-Canadian writer Kevin Roberts. He has had performances of his works in various countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, Israel, and the United States. His first symphony, Saudades, was written for and performed by the Vancouver Island Symphony Orchestra in May of 2004.
Among the prizes and awards Patrick has received for his music was the Second prize plus the BC Cultural Fund prize for the best work by a BC composer in the CBC/Canada Music Council-sponsored Young Composers Contest of 1976, for his electro/acoustic piece Touch - Stone I, which then represented Canada at the International Rostrum of Composers in Paris in 1977.
Patrick has been a Professor in the Music Department since 1979, where he has taught music composition, history, theory, musicianship, conducting, and chamber choir. He was director of the Cantabile Chamber Choir, when it was established in 1983/84, and has been its director since it was re-established in 1995. He was a member of the community chamber choir A Cappella Plus for nine years.