Patrick Wedd

Wedd, Patrick
Patrick (Laurence Perry) Wedd. Organist-choirmaster, harpsichordist, composer, b Simcoe, Ont, 4 Jan 1948; B MUS (Toronto) 1970, M MUS (British Columbia) 1972. At 11 he began organ studies with J. Laurence Slater and at 12 he became organist-choirmaster at St Paul's Church in Port Robinson, Ont. After holding similar positions in St Catharines and Thorold, Ont, he served 1966-9 as sub-organist to Norman Hurrle at St James' Cathedral, Toronto, and as a recitalist in various churches. Wedd studied organ with Hurrle and harpsichord with Greta Kraus. He was an Albert Ham Organ Scholar at Trinity College, University of Toronto. In 1969 he won the RCCO's international Young Organists' Competition. He studied 1970-2 on scholarship at the University of British Columbia with Hugh McLean. In 1973 he was chosen by the RCCO to attend an organ course in Belgium given by Flor Peeters. Wedd was organist-choirmaster 1970-5 at St Mary's Anglican Church, then 1975-86 at Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver. He was co-director 1972-5 of Hortulani Musicae and also keyboard player with the Vancouver Society for Early Music, the Cecilian Ensemble, the Vancouver New Music Society, and Array West. He was a founding member of Days Months and Years to Come (Magnetic Band) and founder in 1974 and director of Quorum, an ensemble of six vocalists which gave the first performance by a Canadian group of Stockhausen's Stimmung and the premieres of works by Thomas Baker and Alex Pauk. In 1983 he was director of music for the opening ceremonies in Vancouver of the Sixth Assembly of the World Council of Churches. In 1986 he moved to Montreal to become the artistic director of the Tudor Singers and director of music at the Church of St Andrew and St Paul, holding the latter appointment until 1991, when he became director of music at the Church of St John the Evangelist (Montreal). At St Andrew and St Paul he administered and appeared in a major concert series, including annual performances of Handel's Messiah with baroque orchestra and Christmas broadcasts for CBC radio and television. Wedd's organ recitals have included premieres of works by Thomas Baker, Pauk, and Jerome Summers. He has performed extensively in Canada and the USA; in 1979 he gave the inaugural recital on the first Casavant organ to be installed in Adelaide, Australia, and in 1982, the inaugural recital on the Roy Thomson Hall Gabriel Kney organ. His playing is marked by a prodigious technique which supports a considerable sensitivity to a composer's style - his sense of line is particularly acute. Wedd has composed two a great deal of liturgical music, including masses, psalm settings, chants, anthems, psalm tones, hymn arrangements, fanfares, and settings of the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis. His other works include Nines (1978) for solo flute, A Bird of Fire (1978, texts by Thomas Merton), for mezzo soprano and keyboards, and L'Imposition de la Neige (1987), for choir. He has received commissions from the Vancouver Chamber Choir, the British Columbia Choral Federation, Christ Church Cathedral (Hamilton), the Anglican Diocese of Vancouver, the Tudor Singers, the St Lambert Choral Society, and the Vancouver Bach Choir.

Author Bryan N.S. Gooch

Discography

An Organ Recital by Patrick Wedd: Bruhns - Byrd - Telemann (arr Walther) - Widor - Vierne. 1977. KVP 502

Geminiani The Enchanted Forest. CBC Vancouver O, Gardiner conductor, Wedd harpsichord. 1982. CBC SM-5017

Haec Dies: Byrd - Tallis - Jackson - Kidd - Wedd. Senior Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Wedd conductor. 1985. World WRC1-4051

Haydn Missa brevis. Vancouver Chamb Choir, Washburn conductor. 1973. CBC SM-243

Hymns of Herbert O'Driscoll. Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Wedd organ and conductor. (1976). KVP 601

Let Us Keep the Feast: Wedd - Fritz - P. O'Driscoll. Choirs of Christ Church Cathedral, Wedd conductor. 1981. Dulcian DR-1002

Music for Christmas: Ahrens - Distler - Mathias - Wedd (arrs) - et al. Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Wedd organ and conductor. (1976). KVP 603F

Séquence: Kenins - Beckwith - Lorrain - Gagnon. 1984. Centrediscs CMC-1784/(Beckwith) 5-ACM 26/(Kenins) 4-ACM 33

Sacred Arias, Songs and Spirituals: Handel - Bach - et al. Ingrid Suderman, soprano, Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Wedd conductor. 1985. World WRC1-4390

Strike up the Band: Patrick Wedd Plays Favourites on the Orpheum Grand Wurlitzer. 1986. CBC Musica Viva MVCD-1019

See also Discographies for CBC Vancouver O; Tudor Singers of Montreal; Vancouver bach Choir.