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Violinist J. Patrick Rafferty has been hailed for his
"exciting performances", his "subtle and imaginative ideas about
the music", and "a velvety, sweetly sonorous tone [that] captured
the intellect and calmed the soul." (Milwaukee Sentinel)
Rafferty's solo credits include concerto performances
with the symphony orchestras of Milwaukee, Dallas, Cincinnati,
and St. Louis. In addition, he as appeared as soloist with the
Dallas Bach Orchestra, the Dallas Chamber Orchestra, the
Dallas Fine Arts Orchestra (with whom he performed the Texas
premiere of Richard Strauss' Violin Concerto), the Brevard
Music Center Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony Chamber
Orchestra, and many others.
J. Patrick Rafferty served as Concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra from 1986 to 1991. He previously served as Associate Concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony for eight years, and as Concertmaster for the Dallas Bach and Fine Arts Orchestras. He has also served as acting concertmaster of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, guest concertmaster of the Seattle Symphony, and as concertmaster of the Brevard Music Center Orchestra. He has also held positions with the St. Louis Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Cincinnati Symphony.
An accomplished chamber music performer as well as an acclaimed solo and orchestral artist, violinist J. Patrick Rafferty joined the internationally-acclaimed Cadek Trio at the University of Alabama in the fall of 1991. His national reputation as an outstanding chamber musician has been built on his association with such ensembles as the New Marlboro Chamber Players, the American Chamber Trio, the Fine Arts Chamber Players, the Dallas Chamber Orchestra, and the Walden Chamber Players.
Of the Cadek Trio's recent east coast tour, the New York Concert Review wrote "one could pay the Cadeks a high complement by saying that their [playing] compared favorably with that of [the legendary trio of] David Oistrakh, Sviatoslav Knushevitzky, and Lev Oborin."
In 1987, Rafferty founded the Paganini Trio in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and then in 1990, formed the Stradivari Trio in the same city. Both ensembles recorded exclusively for the Koss Classics label. Typical of the critical response to these ensembles was the following from the Milwaukee Journal: "a spectacular inaugural season...Word of mouth from ecstatic audiences and favorable reviews from every quarter have filled the place; the trio had to add a performance of each program to get everyone in."
While maintaining his active performance schedule, Rafferty has successfully built a respected teaching career, teaching at the Wisconsin Conservatory, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and currently, at the University of Alabama. He is also on the summer artist faculty of the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina, where he is in residence with the Cadek Trio, concertmaster of the Brevard Music Center Orchestra and head of the Advanced Chamber Music Program.
- "[He] produced a full bright singing tone, even during the lyrical but demanding first movement cadenza and the flying finale...a magnificent performance of the Tchaikovsky Concerto."
- The Milwaukee Sentinel
- "Virtuosity was at its finest from soloist and orchestra, and conductor/soloist Rafferty and his musicians brought out the clear, cold picture and bone-chilling effect of Vivaldi's 'Winter'..."
- The News and Courier (Charleston, S.C.)
- "Violinist J. Patrick Rafferty deserves special praise for his sublime rendition of the solo in the in the [Bach] Concerto in A minor...I honestly cannot recall having heard this familiar work done quite so well, with so lively and compelling an approach to Bach's music...one of the high points of the musical year."
- The Dallas Observer
- "A right-on-target performance of this 250-year-old masterpiece [Vivaldi's Four Seasons]...unfailingly intense...a smooth-flowing reading that gave full play to all aspects of the work, including its extramusical pictorialism, its purely musical fulfillment of the Baroque concerto form and the virtuosity contained in the violin solo."
- The Fort Worth Star-Telegram
- "Mr. Rafferty immediately impressed with a very warm, at times lush, tone quality, rich and beautifully controlled, and a very handsome technique...Clean, rich in tone, beautifully phrased and projected...the Debussy was given a very sensual tone, and the three last pieces by Dvorak and Sarasate in the knuckle- buster category were played with impeccable taste."
- The Blade (Toledo, Ohio)
- "Fresh thinking...without prejudice or fear...a rarely heard rhythmic freedom and buoyancy."
- San Antonio Express-News
- "Solid and very satisfying...committed and impassioned playing of a strongly lyrical cast...often quite touching...exuberant and precise...memorable."
- Dallas Times Herald
- Mr. Rafferty played the evening's concerto honorably...with involvement and affection...a handsome performance."
- The Dallas Morning News
- "Fine solo work!"
- Seattle Times
Tel: 205-348-1479
email J. Patrick Rafferty: praffert@gallalee.as.ua.edu or praffert@music.ua.edu