Patrick Dupre Quigley, conductor/producer/arranger/composer, is the Founder and Artistic Director of Seraphic Fire, and Artistic Director Designate of Opera Lafayette.
Quigley is known for his engaging performances of historically-informed programming that draw in new audiences and delight regular concertgoers. A ceaseless advocate for a more inclusive concert experience, Quigley’s programs regularly span more than 1,000 years of musical history. Through recordings, performances, and new editions, Quigley has championed the culturally relevant voices of Spanish Renaissance composer Tomas Luis de Victoria, the 11th-century polymath and saint Hildegard of Bingen, and 18th-century Cuban composer Esteban Salas y Castro. Quigley deeply respects music traditions outside the Western European canon and has developed concerts and collaborations highlighting the music of the Babylonian Jews, New Orleans’s Black Gospel tradition, Latin Pop, and the Baroque music of North and South America.
Recent and upcoming programs include Bach’s orchestral suites and violin concerti with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and Gil Shaham at Carnegie Hall, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and La Servante Maîtresse with Opera Lafayette at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, return engagements with the Charlotte Symphony and Chicago’s Music of the Baroque, conducting debuts with Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra and the Rhode Island Philharmonic, and scenes from Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Castor et Pollux with Seraphic Fire.
Other guest conducting invitations have come from The Cleveland Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony, Hamilton Philharmonic, Indianapolis Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Mobile Symphony, ARTIS Naples, New Jersey Symphony, New World Symphony, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, and the Utah Symphony.
Quigley, along with co-founder Joanne N. Schulte, established Seraphic Fire in 2002. Under his direction, the ensemble has most recently commissioned works by Alvaro Bermudez, Sydney Guillaume, and Tawnie Olson; and has given modern, regional, national, international, and recording premieres of contemporary and historical works by Hildegard of Bingen, Shawn Crouch, Susan Labarr, Tomas Luis de Victoria, Nico Muhly, Esteban Salas y Castro, Greg Spears, Christopher Theofanidis, and Ileana Perez Velazquez, among others. The Seraphic Fire Media recording catalogue contains 16 titles, representing diverse musical voices: Two titles have received Grammy nominations. The ensemble has also recorded with the international pop star Shakira.
Quigley holds an undergraduate degree in Music Theory and History from the University of Notre Dame, studying under Daniel Stowe, Alexander Blachly and Walter Ginter. Quigley studied conducting with Marguerite Brooks while earning a Master of Music degree at the Yale School of Music. He has assisted Michael Tilson Thomas in rehearsals, performances, and recordings at the San Francisco Symphony. Quigley is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, and currently resides in Washington, D.C.
