On this day in the year 2000, legendary Tipperary tenor Frank Patterson passed away. He was 61 years old.
Patterson performed for Pope John Paul II twice during his career. The first was at the Phoenix Park in 1979 in front of 1.3 million people and the second occasion was in St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York in 1996. He described the event in Phoenix Park as the highlight of his career and he wore the below suit for the performance. The suit was very kindly loaned to the Museum by the Patterson family and it is one of our most cherished artefacts.
Frank Patterson recorded 36 albums in six languages, including opera, oratorio and songs by Purcell, Handel, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert and Berlioz. He won platinum, gold and silver discs and two of his American releases were million-dollar sellers.
Patterson also performed for US Presidents Reagan and Clinton.
The New Yorker magazine wrote of one of Patterson’s performances: "The whole world seems still while he sings, and for a few seconds after." In its obituary following Patterson’s death in 2000, the Irish Times wrote “he attained the pinnacle of his profession. He was an outstanding Irish tenor of his generation with artistry in oratorio, in classical song and in the Irish and international repertoire.”
