Alfred Nash Patterson

Alfred Nash Patterson Alfred Nash "Bud" Patterson (1914–1979) was an influential New England choral conductor, teacher, and mentor of choral musicians. Born in Lawrence, Massachusetts and a graduate of Lawrence public schools, he went on to study music at the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston University, and the Berkshire Music Center. He later became an organist and choir director of Christ Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where in 1948 he expanded the church choir into a "semi concert choir" of 40–50 voices that he called the Polyphonic Choir. When, the following year, Patterson changed jobs, the group needed to find a new name, and settled on "Chorus pro Musica." The chorus rapidly became known for high-quality performances of new and rarely performed works, and Patterson's stature in the Boston musical community grew correspondingly.

Career Mr. Patterson began his public career at a time when choral music in the Boston area was in a kind of doldrums: "Apart from church choirs, there were, essentially, only the Handel & Haydn Society and the Cecilia Society. In their nineteenth-century heyday, each organization had been an important musical force in the city, premiering new works and dusting off seldom heard classics. But they had specialized in oratorios, and no one was writing oratorios much anymore. For much of the first half of the twentieth century, H&H and Cecilia were content to serve up strictly traditional fare." Interviewed 30 years later, called him "a prodigious figure in Boston's musical life," stating: "It was Alfred Nash Patterson's singular achievement to imbue amateur singers with the consistency and high standard of professionals." Composer Daniel Pinkham was quoted as saying, "Bud's great contribution was to new music; for more than 20 years he was the most prominent local figure outside the universities who was doing anything for new music. He commissioned or premiered a large corpus of works; his performance of my St. Mark Passion was a milestone in my own career. Despite his own vivid performing personality, his devotion to the wishes of a young composer was absolutely selfless."

A movement arose to perpetuate his legacy, spearheaded by a large group of singers from several choruses he had led. Donors suggested that commissioning new choral works, building a library of choral music, festivals, tours, and workshops would be fitting projects for funding. This impulse led to the creation of the Alfred Nash Patterson Foundation, presently known as Choral Arts New England, which, among other activities, annually provides financial support to New England choruses and presents a lifetime achievement award to an exceptional New England choral conductor in memory of Alfred Nash Patterson.