Longwood Debut
An award-winning performer, Aaron Patterson has been in demand as a concert artist from a young age. An assistant recitalist of the world’s largest pipe organ, Patterson has played on some of the world's most iconic instruments and at such prestigious arts festivals as the Aspen Music Festival and the Spoleto Festival USA.
A native of Philadelphia and recent graduate of the Juilliard School, Patterson won first place at the 2017 Albert Schweitzer Organ Competition and the 2016 West Chester University International Organ Competition. He is currently the organist/music associate at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, MS.
Patterson has also been a recipient of the Pogorzelski-Yankee Memorial Scholarship from the American Guild of Organists and the Bart Pitman Memorial Music Scholarship from the Delaware Valley Music Club. His performance venues include the Wanamaker Grand Court in Philadelphia, PA, where he is an assistant organist; Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ; the Cathédrale Sainte-Marie in Oloron, France; the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, NY; the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in New York, NY; Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, CA; and the Kimmel Cultural Campus in Philadelphia, PA. Some of these performances have been heard on the radio programs Pipedreams, The Wanamaker Organ Hour, and Yesterday USA.
A passionate advocate of collaboration, Patterson has performed with numerous orchestras, choirs, and other instrumentalists. He also has premiered new works by Alistair Coleman, Maya Miro Johnson, and Sheridan Seyfried.
At the Juilliard School, Patterson was a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship and earned his master’s degree in organ performance under the tutelage of Paul Jacobs. He earned his bachelor’s degree as the Charles and Judith Freyer Annual Fellow at the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied organ performance with Alan Morrison. He also received a certificate in harpsichord performance with Leon Schelhase. Prior to this, Patterson studied organ with Dennis Elwell and piano with Dolly Krasnopolsky.
Previously, he has served at Cresheim Valley Church and Tenth Presbyterian Church, both in Philadelphia, PA; and at St. Thomas’s Episcopal Church in Whitemarsh, PA.
