Patrick Gandy, the 2017 recipient of the ASCAP Foundation/Symphony Jazz Commissioning Competition and the 2018 NAACP Theatre Award for Best Musical Director for a production of The Color Purple-The Musical, is a composer, pianist, conductor, orchestrator and musical director who has worked with such great artists as: Patrice Rushen, Rickey Minor, Billy Childs, Stevie Wonder, Billy Porter, Jennifer Holliday, Mary J. Blige, Renée Elise Goldsberry, T.C. Carson, Marilyn McCoo, Billy Davis Jr., Yolanda Adams, Jubilant Sykes, John Legend, John Boswell, Dave Koz, Paul Jackson Jr., Diana Kavilis and Jeffrey Polk.

Patrick studied at the Eastman School of Music (Rochester, New York), the College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the Grove School of Music in Los Angeles. Patrick has performed on several recordings as composer, orchestrator, arranger and/or conductor such as on: the Dianne Reeves Tribute to Sarah Vaughn entitled The Calling (Grammy Award), Billy Childs’ Lyric (Grammy Award) and Stevie Wonder’s – A Time to Love. He has scored music for film and television and served as musical director and/or pianist for touring companies of Broadway musical productions including The Lion King, Dreamgirls and Aida. Patrick has had the good fortune to associate with respected conductors James Levine, James Conlin, John Mauceri, and Leonard Bernstein (Mass) while working as pianist and associate director of the Cincinnati Boy Choir and the Brooklyn Boy’s Choir. Patrick has conducted the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and has appeared in venues as diverse as Radio City Music Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center and at the White House. Patrick is the Executive Director and Producer of The Silence Is Broken where, through the creative and performing arts, he rallies communities to solve issues once labeled intractable.