Having written 325 reviews for the Intelligencer, David Patterson stands as an irreplaceable stalwart and champion on these pages. In fact, he authored our first published review in 2008. Like some of his BMInt colleagues, Patterson doubles as a music professor (UMass-Boston), where he teaches theory and composition; he also composes and plays piano [his website is here]. Unlike anyone else on staff, though, Patterson hails from the St. Louis Missouri suburb of Ferguson and graduated from Ferguson High School.

On October 21^st at 7:30pm a concert of Patterson’s works, including #FERGUSON, inaugurates music in the new recital hall at UMass-Boston.

In addition to classrooms and an atrium with spectacular views, the Wilson Architect-designed University Hall, originally known as The General Academic Building No. 1, contains a 500-seat auditorium, a black box theater, a 150-seat recital hall, exhibition gallery, lounge, and a café that “foster user interaction and provide an academic and cultural destination on campus.”

Acoustic consultation from from Acentech played a huge role in the success of the Recital Hall; it is marked by stellar acoustics, state of the art sound and lighting, and will serve as the home stage for the UMass Boston Chamber Orchestra, Jazz Ensembles, and student and faculty performances. 

#Ferguson contemplates Patterson’s upbringing with what he calls “a wellspring of hope” that emerged from the vigils which followed the events of summer and fall 2014 stemming from the fatal shooting by a white police officer of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown.

Following the death of Brown, the Ferguson community became the focus of national attention on issues of race, law enforcement, and protest. Patterson, who resides in Watertown, followed it closely, at first bewildered that this could be “my Ferguson.” As events unfolded, continuing up to the present, he found greater inspiration in the church vigils that transformed “Hands up, don’t shoot!” to “Hands up, let’s pray”.

“The suite moves from home to school to church, glimpses of what I did most of the time while growing up: practicing the piano, learning about Bach to Bartok at school, and playing for my mother’s Sunday school classes at the Presbyterian church,” Patterson recalls. “Fast-forwarding to the ‘now’, after a cataclysmic scene the music describes the dreaming, stumbling, and determined steps tracing the tune ‘We shall overcome someday,’ emphasizing the ‘someday’. The Finale ‘Hands Up, Let’s Pray’ is an anthem of entreaty, supplication, appeal.

“More than anything, it’s about hope”.

#FERGUSON premiered on September 12^th at UMissouri-St. Louis for an occasion coinciding with Patterson’s high school class of ’59 reunion. It and other works by Patterson will be performed at a free concert on October 21^st at 7:30pm at UMass-Boston’s University Hall Recital Hall, 100 Morrisey Blvd., Boston. Janice Weber, of the piano faculty at Boston Conservatory and MIT, will perform. The other pieces will feature UMass-Boston faculty member Chaerin Kim (harp) and students Jacsonn Jean (baritone) and Julia Nelson (soprano).

David Patterson, Professor of Music and former Chairman of the Performing Arts Department at UMass Boston, was recipient of a Fulbright Scholar Award and the Chancellor’s Distinction in Teaching Award. He studied with Nadia Boulanger and Olivier Messiaen in Paris and holds a PhD from Harvard University. He is the author of 20 Little Piano Pieces from Around the World (G. Schirmer).