Pianist Patrick Cashin is becoming known as a distinctive presence on the Canadian music scene. He designs unique recitals centred around the best of the piano repertoire and speaks warmly to audiences about what makes the music great. Patrick particularly enjoys playing Mozart piano concertos, in which he improvises and composes cadenzas in the style of Mozart.
Patrick won several competitions in his early twenties, including the Atlantic Young Artist and Petro-Canada Young Artist competitions, resulting in some early success playing recital tours and concertos with local orchestras. He went on to complete an Artist Diploma at the Glenn Gould School in Toronto and a Doctorate in performance at l’Université de Montréal, both under the guidance of legendary piano pedagogue Marc Durand. Over the years, Patrick has studied in master classes with many brilliant musicians of the older generation, including Ferenc Rados, Robert Levin and Leon Fleisher.
As a Montreal-based freelancer, Patrick performs regularly with soloists and ensembles, notably as an occasional orchestral pianist with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. He is on staff as a collaborative pianist at McGill University, working frequently with students in the string and woodwind areas. When not performing, he spends much of his time helping other pianists, both at his home studio and online internationally. Patrick’s teaching philosophy aims to integrate traditional pedagogy with functional anatomy and holistic movement modalities to achieve naturally effective, injury-resistant technique.
