Free music! (with a few conditions...) A selection of music scores has been placed on SCORES section of the web site for free download. Non-commercial use is authorized free of charge, but the composer asks for notice of performances and printed programs where applicable. Performances where admission is charged are not authorized uses of these scores, but permission may be obtained by contacting the composer directly. These works are made available especially to assist school and church choirs. Notice of the works' availability will soon appear in the Choral Public Domain Library.

"Sand Castle" (SATB, piano and oboe), composed for the Words To Music Project sponsored by the La Crosse Chamber Chorale, Paul Rusterholz, director, had a preview performance on Thursday, November 6th at the La Crosse New Music Festival. Additional performances by the Chamber Chorale will occur on November 8th (7:30 p.m. First Lutheran Church, Onalaska, WI) and November 9th (3:00 p.m. English Lutheran Church, La Crosse, WI), along with commissioned works by three other composers: A. Eric Heukeshoven, Chris Frye, and Gary Kent Walth.

Setting words by Fr. Paul Nienaber, SJ, the anthem "Sing The Lord A New Song" has been completed for the inauguration on September 26th of Br. William Mann, FSC, as the 13th President of Saint Mary's University of Minnesota. The anthem, scored for SATB Chorus with Brass Quintet and piano (or organ), will be performed at the Inauguration Convocation as a musical interlude by the Saint Mary's Concert Choir and the Saint Mary's Faculty Brass Quintet with the composer conducting. The setting is a hymn concertato arrangement of a new hymn, INDIVISA MANENT (6.5.6.5.D) by the composer.

Two new works have just been completed. The first, "Sand Castle" (SATB, piano and oboe), was composed for the Words To Music Project sponsored by the La Crosse Chamber Chorale, Paul Rusterholz, director. This work will be premiered on season concerts November 8th (First Lutheran Church, Onalaska, WI) and November 9th (English Lutheran Church, La Crosse, WI), along with commissioned works by three other composers.

A commission has also been completed for River Falls United Methodist Church (River Falls, WI). The anthem "O factura Dei" sets poetry of the medieval abbess Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), translated into English by the composer. Two short phrases of the original Latin are also set in a very meditative, ethereal work for SATB choir and piano.

The anthem "In All Things" was premiered by members of the Saint Mary's University Concert Choir at commencement exercises on May 10th, 2008 at the Winona, Minnesota campus. Scored for SATB choir, violin and piano, the work incorporates the last words attributed to St. Jean Baptiste de La Salle, the founder of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (FSC), which has administered Saint Mary's University of Minnesota since 1933. Additional text is paraphrased from the saint's work, Meditations for the Time of Retreat. Earlier in the day a new responsorial psalm setting (Psalm 11) was first performed at the Baccalaureate Mass

The Saint Mary's University Chamber Singers will tour Wisconsin and Minnesota February 12th through 17th. Tour repertoire includes the "Corpus Christi Carol" composed for Balliol College, Oxford (see below). Concerts include performances in Madison, Wis. (St. James Catholic Church) and Victoria, Minn. (St. Victoria Catholic Church). In addition, the Chamber Singers will serve as the guest choir for masses at the Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis (5 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 16th), and at the Cathedral of St. Paul (5 p.m., Sunday, February 17th).

The UK Premiere of "Corpus Christi Carol" by the Balliol College (Oxford) Choir took place on November 25th, 2007 with the composer conducting. The Members Concert of the Balliol Music Society was well attended and featured the Balliol Choir, guitarist and composer Christoph Denoth, and the Oxford Trobadors. "Corpus Christi Carol" was also featured in a performance of the La Crosse New Music Festival at Christ Episcopal Church in La Crosse, Wisconsin, performed by the Saint Mary's University Chamber Singers.

The Balliol College (Oxford) Music Society has commissioned a new choral work for premiere on its first concert of the 2007-08 acacdemic year. The text selected is the "Corpus Christi Carol," a late Middle English text from a manuscript at Balliol College (MS 354, p. 352). The new a cappella setting will be premiered in Balliol Hall (1877) by the Balliol College Choir at a 9:00 p.m. concert on Sunday, November 25th, 2007.

A new SAB choral setting has been completed for the 8th grade choir at Faribault Middle School (Faribault, Minn.), commissioned by director Lindsy Nelson. The work sets a poem by student Katarina Donkers, entitled "A Friendship Dies" for SAB chorus, piano and flute. The new work will be premiered in Faribault in April.

The choral set Drei Rilkegesänge was premiered in Oshkosh, Wisconsin on Sunday February 11, 2007 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, and subsequently performed at the Johanneskirche in Zolling (Freising), Bavaria on Friday, February 16, and on Saturday, February 17 at the Laurentiuskirche in nearby Haag an der Amper, by the Saint Mary's Chamber Singers. The concert in Haag was reviewed in the Münchner Merkur newspaper (21.02.07), and the following was said of the Rilkegesänge:

"In einer eindrucksvollen Hommage an Reiner Marie Rilke wurden drei seiner Werke in deutscher Sprache vertont und professionell durchkomponiert von dem Chorleiter Patrick M. O'Shea, a-capella und dynamisch im mehrstimmigen Satz, zu Gehör gebracht."

"In an effective homage to Reiner Maria Rilke, three of his works in the German language were set to music skillfully composed by the choir director, Patrick M. O’Shea, accomplishing a dynamic, a cappella, multi-voiced composition."

The Rilkegesänge were again performed at the Homecoming Concert for the Chamber Singers' tour at the Chapel of St. Mary of the Angels in Winona on Thursday, February 22.

The new three-movement setting of poetry by Rainer Maria Rilke, Drei Rilkegesänge, has just been completed. The movements are "Herbsttag," "Vorgefühl," and "Aus einem April." The world premiere will take place on Sunday, February 11, 2007 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The Saint Mary's University Chamber Singers will premiere the works on a joint concert with the Lourdes High School Chamber Singers at 7:00 p.m. with the composer conducting. The Saint Mary's Chamber Singers will depart the following day for a tour of Germany and Austria and will perform the works on several concerts as part of that tour.

"When We Met," was premiered by the La Crosse Chamber Chorale on November 4th in Onalaska, Wisconsin, with subsequent performances on Sunday November 5th (First Presbyterian Church, La Crosse, WI) and on Tuesday, November 7th at the La Crosse New Music Festival, hosted by the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Patrick attended the November 5th and 7th performances. The La Crosse Tribune featured a story on the Words to Music Project: LINK (includes poem text). The previous weekend, on Sunday, October 29th, several works were featured on a Faculty Composers' Recital at Saint Mary's University, including the Three Newfoundland Folksongs performed by the Saint Mary's Chamber Singers with the composer conducting, and "A Lot Like Now," performed by Brigid Ryan, soprano, Tiffanie Danzinger, mezzo-soprano, Dulcinea Basile, flute, and Jan Matson, piano.

"Virgin-born, We Bow Before Thee" is being prepared for a Lessons and Carols performance in Oshkosh, Wisconsin by the Lourdes High School choirs, under the direction of John Popke.

"When We Met," a short work for the La Crosse Chamber Chorale for the Words to Music Project, has been completed. The Words to Music Project brings together several composers from the La Crosse / Winona area to set texts submitted by middle school students. The entire La Crosse public school system, grades 6, 7, and 8, participates by having students write poetry on a given theme. The finished poetry is then number coded, the names of students removed, and circulated to the composers during the summer months so that they may choose a text or texts to set. "When We Met" is set for SATB chorus and Cello, with a brief soprano solo. The premiere of this work is set for 4:00 p.m. November 5, 2007 (along with the other W2M project compositions) at First Presbyterian Church, La Crosse, WI. Click HERE for more information.

Work is proceeding on two projects form the coming year. "When We Met" will be a short work for the La Crosse Chamber Chorale for the Words to Music Project, on the text of an elementary school student from La Crosse. Also in progress is a set of a capella pieces on poems by Rainer Maria Rilke for the Saint Mary's University Chamber Singers' tour of Germany and Austria in February, 2007. In addition, transcriptions/editions of a number of pieces by Kenyan composers are in preparation for the 2006-2007 academic year for performance by the Saint Mary's University choral ensembles.

Three Newfoundland Folksongs received its premiere on April 29th, 2006 at the Chapel of St. Mary of the Angels on the St. Teresa Campus of Saint Mary's University during the SMU Choirs annual Spring Concert. The composer, who directs the Concert Choir, conducted, and Ned Kirk of the SMU music faculty was the pianist. The three songs in the set are "Wave Over Wave" (by Jim Payne), "She's Like The Swallow" (traditional), and "We'll Rant And We'll Roar" (traditional). Many thanks to Jim Payne for consenting to the choral arrangement of "Wave Over Wave."

Also on the program were works by Knut Nystedt, Dominic Dousa, Scott Gendel, and Johannes Brahms. The concert was presented as part of the regular SMU Music Department season, and in all, three choirs performed, the Chamber Singers, Concert Choir, and the Women's Choir (the latter under the direction of Peter Schleif).