A native of Massachusetts, Dr. O'Shea joined the Saint Mary's Faculty in August of 1997, after teaching at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. He has conducted choirs of all ages, from children's choirs to adult community choruses, and currently conducts the Concert Choir, a 65-voice ensemble of mixed voices, and the select Chamber Singers, which numbers up to 24.
In addition to being a published composer (with Moon of Hope Publishing, as well as DemiQ Music), accepting commissions for choral, vocal, and other works, Dr. O'Shea has been active as a church choir director in a number of denominations, and has served as a clinician for choral festivals and workshops in Virginia, Arizona, Texas, Minnesota and Wisconsin. He is currently the Choir Director at Grace Presbyterian Church in Winona. Principal research interests include 20th-century tonal music for chorus, the hyper-chromatic madrigalists of the late 16th century (such as Gesualdo and Marenzio), and the performance of vocal chamber music of all periods. He is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, the International Federation for Choral Music, the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.
Currently, Dr. O'Shea conducts the Concert Choir, a 65-voice mixed chorus open to all singers on campus. The group performs approximately 4 concerts each year, often in combination with the select Chamber Singers, an ensemble of approximately 24 singers, also directed by Dr. O'Shea.
Dr. O'Shea also teaches Music History, Vocal Literature, and Vocal Pedagogy, as well as ARTSCORE, part of the core curriculum at Saint Mary's, in which students are exposed to various performing and visual arts events, and react to these orally and in writing, examining aspects of criticism, social relevance, and ethics.
O'Shea serves as Chair of the Winona Fine Arts Commission, a local arts advocacy group for the City of Winona.
In addition to musical pursuits, he maintains a keen interest in Medieval Irish history, Gaelic Irish culture, genealogy, and heraldry. He also enjoys fishing, cycling, and other outdoor activities. Dr. O'Shea's biography appears in the 2001 edition of Marquis Who's Who in America.
For further details, see Patrick Michael O'Shea