RICHARD PATTERSON enjoyed an active musical career as a collaborative artist and performed with his ensembles in North and South America, Europe, and Asia. As a student, Mr. Patterson lived in Spain, studying the guitar with maestro Jose Tomas. Returning to the United States, he was signed by the world’s largest classical music management, Columbia Artists, for six seasons of national tours as a member of the Ware-Patterson Duo. Under the auspices of David Lieberman Artists he toured internationally with the Russian virtuoso Emmanuel Sheynkman for over a decade. Mr. Patterson studied composition with Pulitzer Prize winners John Adams and Wayne Peterson and held the position of Lecturer in Music at Notre Dame de Namur University from 1980 – 2015. His compositions and recordings have been featured in films and television and he appeared as a guitarist in the feature film “Five Year Engagement” starring Emily Blunt and Jason Segel. Mr. Patterson directed the Guitar Foundation of America Conference in 2008 and is the founding director of the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts in San Francisco. He was appointed to the faculty of the New York Guitar Seminar in Manhattan for the summer of 2013. In January, 2014 Mr. Patterson was one of five industry leaders appointed to the President’s Advisory Council of the St Louis Classical Guitar Society, chaired by Christopher Parkening. He represented the D’Addario String Company at the 2014 and 2015 Cordoba Guitar Festivals in Cordoba, Spain. Richard was a member of the International Jury at the 2016 Koblenz International Classical Guitar Competition “Hubert Käpple” in Koblenz, Germany and  judged the finals of the Changsha International Guitar Competition in China, 2020 and 2021 editions. Currently Mr. Patterson is the North American representative for maestro David Russell and is the Artistic Director of the Omni Concert Series in San Francisco.