Born in Perth, Scotland, Stuart Patterson studied in Glasgow, London, Florence and Paris. He joined the Groupe Vocal de France on a French government scholarship, and settled in France in the 1980s.
After studying at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, Stuart Patterson joined the company of the Teatro Verdi di Pisa, where he was a regular performer from 1992 to 1996. Under the baton of Maestro Claudio Desderi he sang : Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Ferrando (Cosi fan tutte), Don Basilio/Curzio (Le Nozze di Figaro), Lucano, Valletto and Soldato (L’Incoronazione di Poppea), Ulisse and Eurimaco (Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria), Ramiro (La Cenerentola).
Since then he has sung a wide variety of roles : Damon (Acis and Galatea) and Jupiter (Handel’s Semele), Iarbas (Cavalli’s Didone) in Glasgow, Enea in the same opéra at the Opéra-Comique in Paris conducted by Christophe Rousset, Orfeo (Orfeo) for the Atelier Lyrique of Tourcoing, Gomatz (Zaide), Pedrillo (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Sempronio (Lo Speziale), le Matelot (Milhaud’s Le Pauvre Matelot) at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, Vincent (Mireille), Pâris (La Belle Hélène), the Coq (Stravinsky’s Renard), Sandy in the French world premiere of Peter Maxwell-Davies’ The Lighthouse in Nanterre.
In 2000, Stuart Patterson began to specialise in character roles. He has sung Sellem (Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress), Vater Mignon (Penderecki’s Die Teufel von Loudun) at the Teatro Regio di Torino ; Elder Gleaton (Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah) in Geneva ; Eusebio (L’Occasione fa il ladro), Dormont (La Scala di Seta), Bruschino Figlio (Il Signor Bruschino) at the Opéra-Comique in Paris ; Second man (Cole Porter’s Kiss me, Kate) in Palermo ; the title role in Gluck’s L’Ivrogne Corrigé in Bastia ; Gherardo (Gianni Schicchi) in Lausanne, as well as several roles in The Nose by Shostakovich under the baton of Armin Jordan, directed by Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser, which was reprised in Nantes and Angers.
He performed his first Wagnerian role, Steuermann (Der fliegende Holländer) in Besançon, followed by Mime (Siegfried) in Mexico, which was recorded for Mexican television. He reprised this role in Lübeck.
He sang Harlekin and a Soldier (Viktor Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis) in a “Pays de Savoie” touring production, Madwoman (Britten‘s Curlew River) in Besançon, Snout (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) in Lyon and Athens, Flute in the same opera in Bern, Goro (Madama Butterfly) at the Staatsoper Berlin, Sancho Pança (L’Homme de la Mancha) in Bregenz, Maestro di Ballo (Manon Lescaut) in Lyon, Doktor Blind (Die Fledermaus) in Geneva.
He has recently performed the roles of Frick/Prosper (La Vie Parisienne) in Lausanne, Bardolfo (Falstaff) with the Budapest Festival Orchestra under the baton of Iván Fischer, Remendado (Carmen) at Covent Garden in London, Herodes (Salome) in Taiwan, Schmidt (Werther) at Rolando Villazon and Sophie Koch’s side conducted by Antonio Pappano at Covent Garden, Mime (Siegfried) in Lübeck (complete Wagner’s Ring de Wagner on DVD), Flute (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) in Geneva, Lacouf (Les Mamelles de Tirésias) in Lausanne.
Stuart Patterson has always had an interest in modern music. He recently collaborated with the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Orchestre de Radio France, TM+, L’Itinéraire and the Manfred Quartet, on works such as Philippe Fénelon’s Le Jardin d’Hiver and Le Chevalier Imaginaire, the Percussionist in Battistelli’s La Prova d’Orchestra at the Bern Opera, Arvo Pärt’s Stabat Mater, Schöenberg’s Ode to Napoleon, Michel Decouste’s 24 Poèmes pour un Eventail, Patrick Burgan’s Audi Coelum.
His CD recordings include Le Nozze di Figaro (Basilio and Curzio) conducted by Jean-Claude Malgoire, Bach’s St John Passion with Paul Dombrecht, Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Vespers with Patrick Marco, as well as a number of contemporary works by composers including Gérard Pesson, Philippe Mion, Jean-Louis Gand and Monique de Cecconi. In 2009, he recorded his first recital on CD, with Florence Boisolle (piano), on the Passavant label.
Stuart Patterson created the Festival Lyrique de Montperreux in 2009, and is still its Artistic Director. In 2012, he was appointed to the post of Professor of Singing at the Haute Ecole de Musique (HEM) in Genève-Neuchâtel (Switzerland). He has directed several operas for the HEM in recent years including J. Offenbach’s Les Bavards and Gluck’s L’Ivrogne Corrigé. For the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève (OCG), under the baton of Arie van Beek, he has directed performances of B. Britten’s Noye’s Fludde, Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne and Van Beurden’s Ah Comme on aime. He is currently working on a production of Brundibàr by Hans Krasa, also for the OCG.