Patrick Barrett is an Irish conductor based in London specialising in choral music and opera. He is currently Chorus Director of the RSNO’s Junior Choruses and Conductor of Farnham Youth Choir’s Junior Choir and University of Reading’s Chamber Choir. He also regularly works as an Assistant Conductor for the National Children’s Choir, a Musicianship Tutor with the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, and conducts a number of other ensembles in London and the South East. Previous roles include Conductor of both the University of Birmingham’s Women’s Choir and Brockham Choral Society, Guest Chorus Master for the CBSO Children’s Chorus under Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, and preparing the Royal Opera House Youth Opera Company for mainstage performances of Humperdink’s Hansel and Gretel.
Patrick studied Music Education at Trinity College Dublin and the National Conservatory of Ireland (DIT) including additional study at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Kodaly Institute in Hungary as part of the Erasmus programme. In 2013, he moved to Cardiff for an MMus in Choral Conducting at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama under Neil Ferris where he took part in masterclasses with Simon Halsey, Paul Brough, Peter Hanke, Karen Grylls, Alice Farnham and Voces8, and was Chorus Master on The Magic Flute for the RWCMD and Assistant Conductor of the Welsh National Opera Youth Opera Company, 2015.
An experienced music educator, Patrick was a Trainee Music Leader with Spitalfields Music from 2016-2017, working on a variety of projects with both the Spitalfields and Wigmore Hall Learning and Participation teams. He continues to work with Spitalfields – most recently on their Big Sing 2019 – and also delivers concerts and workshops for the BBC Proms, Garsington Opera, Sonoro Choir and the BBC Singers.
Recent projects include conducting the world première of A Different Story by Lewis Murphy and Laura Attridge with the ROH Youth Opera Company in the Linbury Theatre, and off stage conducting MacMillan’s ‘Quickening’ under Ed Gardner in the Usher Hall as part of the Edinburgh International Festival.