A native of Uganda, East Africa, Patrick Kabanda developed his interest in the organ while a chorister at Namirembe Cathedral in Kampala. He has served as organist at Emanuel A.M.E. Church, organist/music director at the Church of The Intercession and assisting organist at Wall Street’s Trinity Church in New York City. He was appointed school organist and instructor in music at Phillips Academy in September 2004.

Kabanda made his European debut at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London and returned in 2004 at the invitation of London’s South African High Commission to perform in celebration of South Africa’s 10th Independence Anniversary. In the United States, he has performed at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center and St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, Busch Hall at Harvard University and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. He also was invited to play the Saint-Saëns “Organ” Symphony No. 3 with the Swarthmore College Orchestra in Philadelphia.

During a tour of Uganda and Kenya, Kabanda experimented with an infusion of African and Western instruments, gave performances and taught classes on organ, piano, improvisation and theory. At the American University in Cairo he led a discussion at the Sasakawa Africa/Europe regional forum on the role of music as a form of communication and also performed in that city’s All Saints’ Cathedral.

Kabanda received bachelor’s and master’s of music degrees from The Juilliard School and was awarded the 2003 William Schuman Prize for outstanding achievement and leadership in music. From 1996-98, he attended Brevard College in North Carolina and also attended the Brevard Music Center Summer Festival. He has studied organ under John Weaver and Charlie Steele; piano under Greg Morris and Marilyn Neeley; improvisation with Gerre Hancock; and composition with Stanley Wolfe.

There are three organs built by Andover Organ Company in the Chapel building. The Cochran Chapel organ was installed and dedicated in 1981, replacing a 1927 Casavant organ that had been moved to the chapel in 1932 from George Washington Hall. The Andover organ has two manuals, 27 stops and 35 ranks and is mechanical, or tracker, action. The Kemper Chapel organ was installed and dedicated in 1979 and has two manuals and nine stops, also with mechanical action. On the main floor of Cochran Chapel is a small one-manual chamber organ with three stops. It is used with orchestra in large choral performances, in small chamber groups or for services in the front of Cochran Chapel.

For more information contact: Patrick Kabanda
Last Update: October 7, 2004
Copyright, Phillips Academy 2004