Co    mposer, violinist, and poet Patricia Van Ness (1951) draws upon elements of medieval and Renaissance music to create a signature voice that has been hailed by musicians, audiences, and critics. She is Staff Composer at First Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts (Peter Sykes, Music Director), and has been an invited lecturer on her music at the Harvard University Department of Music and at Boston University's Core Curriculum Program.

Ms. Van Ness's music has been commissioned, premiered and performed by numerous musicians and organizations, including the The King's Singers (UK), the Heidelberg New Music Festival Ensemble, Mannerquartett Schnittpunktvokal in Austria, the Celebrity Series in Boston, the Spoleto Festival Orchestra, Peter Sykes, Chanticleer, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Boston Ballet, and the Choirs of Harvard University. Her work has been presented at the Vatican and the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Italy; the Musica Sacra Festival in Maastricht, Holland; and in halls and cathedrals throughout Italy, Austria, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Sweden, Latin America, Canada, Russia and the United States.  

In addition to her position as Staff Composer at First Church in Cambridge. which she has served since 1996, Ms. Van Ness has been awarded residencies at the Boston Athenaeum (2002-2003); with Boston Landmarks Orchestra (2003); and with Coro Allegro (1998).

Ms. Van Ness has completed a new and exclusive arrangement of Cor meum est templum sacrum/My Heart is a Holy Place for The King's Singers.  This work was world-premiered in Lahti, Finland, in January of 2009 and US-premiered in Georgia in February of 2009.  To accompany their United States tour in October/November 2009 and for release in the UK in February 2010, they have made available a 5-track disc, From the Heart, containing music composed or arranged exclusively for
The King’s Singers and including My Heart is a Holy Place.  This work will be performed by The King's Singers on Songs of Praise, BBC One, Valentine's Day 2010.

Ms. Van Ness has recently completed an extended piece for Carson Cooman, organist.  This eleven-movement extended work was thematically conceived by Cooman and is her interpretation of the final book of the Christian Bible, Revelation.  It is scored for solo concert organ.

Ms. Van Ness has received numerous awards and grants.  In addition, Europe's prestigious 2005 Echo Klassik Prize was awarded to the ensemble Tapestry (Laurie Monahan, Director) for their recording "Sapphire Night," which features music by Hildegard von Bingen and Patricia Van Ness. 

Ms. Van Ness's music may be found on iTunes, The King's Singers' From the Heart; Chanticleer's CD Sound in Spirit recorded on Warner Classics; on Telarc International Recordings (Angeli and The Fourth River); on MDG Classics (Sapphire Night); on all Coro Allegro's releases; on Advent and Other Music of the Liturgical Year, released by the composer, and on Cappella Clausura's CD (Amelia LeClair, Artistic Director), Passionately Unconventional: Madrigals and Motets by Nuns of Bologna, Moderna, and Ferrara (and Van Ness).  In addition, Carson Cooman will be releasing a CD with her Pastoral Suite / Seven Prayers in 2010.

Ms. Van Ness is a member of American Composers Forum, ASCAP, and the American Music Center.  She lives on the coast of Maine with her husband, Peter Marks.