Senior Patrick Henry is an amazing student. He is a triple major in German, Japanese, and Chinese and he spent a year abroad in Taiwan. He has been very active in UGA Choral Activities, singing in Concert Choir, Collegium Musicum, University Chorus, and Men’s Glee Club, and recently won the Pierce Arant Choral Award. He also composed a sacred work (45 min. in length) for chorus and string orchestra which members of UGA’s Concert Choir and Symphony Orchestra performed downtown. This past summer he also participated in the UGA Chamber Choir tour to Germany and Austria. For his senior seminar in German he performed two Schubert songs and translated several ancient Chinese poems into German. He regularly performs solos for Athens First United Methodist Church, and last fall he sang the bass solos in the church’s performance of the Christmas portion of Handel’s Messiah.
Hometown:
Norcross, Georgia
High School:
Norcross High School
Degree objective:
B.A. in German, B.A. in Chinese language and literature, B.A. in Japanese language and literature
Expected graduation:
Fall 2007
University highlights, achievements, awards and scholarships:
What I consider my greatest achievements all relate to my love of music. I’ve sung in some of the best ensembles the university’s school of music has to offer including the UGA Concert Choir, Collegium Musicum, University Chorus and Men’s Glee Club. I consider all of these groups to be legacies much larger than mine or any one individual’s participation in them, and I was very humbled to receive the E. Pierce Arant Choral Award last Spring as a non-major. My love of music has taken me to some amazing places; I recently toured Germany and Austria with the UGA Chamber Choir, singing in some of Europe’s oldest cathedrals. I also spent a year with the Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra, singing regularly in the National Concert Hall of Taiwan. My honors capstone research involved an internship with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and it allowed me to premiere my first large-scale work for choir and string orchestra, which I composed and conducted in Athens.
Current Employment:
I have two jobs that I love. First, I am a staff soloist at Athens First United Methodist Church, where I sing several masterworks a year, as well as singing at regular and special services. I’ve also sung for numerous UGA higher-ups and prominent members of the Athens community. Second, I work for the UGA Institute of Higher Education in Meigs Hall. My most important responsibility there is helping to coordinate UGA’s Governor’s Teaching Fellows program. Established in 1995 by then-Governor Zell Miller, the program invites professors from around the state for professional development opportunities. Here I’m getting my first taste of creative marketing and organizational management, and I consider myself fortunate to have the opportunity to influence something that has very direct ramifications for me as a student: greater effectiveness of teaching and learning.
I chose to attend UGA because…
I was sold on UGA in high school after my first tour of the campus. There’s something very collegiate about North Campus that makes you feel like you’ve arrived. I have to confess I didn’t care a lick about athletics, the downtown scene, or many of the other things that draw other students to UGA. I did know that this was the only place in the state where I would be able to study all the things I wanted to study (German, Japanese and Chinese languages and literatures, with a side order of music), and I learned to appreciate all those other things in time. Now I feel at home at a football game, a bar downtown or the seventh floor of the main library.
My favorite things to do on campus are…
I have logged hundreds of hours in at the School of Music’s composition lab. When I’m not in class or at work, I gravitate there to write until I realize I’ve forgotten to eat dinner. I swim laps at the Ramsey Center when my brain needs a rest, and I love to hear concerts in Hodgson Hall – when I’m not in them.
When I have free time, I like…
…to cook. Four course minimum or it’s a waste of my time. I love to spend a free Saturday in the kitchen all day entertaining friends. I make the best Butternut Squash soup you’ve ever had, and I bake a mean chocolate torte. That I spend the rest of my time doing something musical goes without saying. That kid you’ve heard singing Britney Spears at full operatic baritone voice down the Atlanta highway: it’s me.
The craziest thing I’ve done is…
…modeling in Taipei – which is so not like me. I signed with an agency for a little disposable income while studying abroad. My friends and I would be gathered around in our dorm’s common room, and all of the sudden I’m on the TV in a cell phone commercial. There’s nothing fun about the long hours on set, but my friends sure gave me grief about the end result.
My favorite place to study is…
…on the couch, with the TV going and a book in my lap. For some reason, I can’t stand the idea of devoting all of my attention to studying, so I have to intersperse it with confectionary television.
My favorite professor is…
…Mitos Andaya, assistant director of choral activities. Her commitment and preparation really make for brilliant music. There is a unique connection between conductors and their musicians, something beyond that of teacher and student, and great music is made when each one believes in the other. I also respect any professor who will drop the pretense of formality, and talk to me like an equal. Allen Crowell, Marjanne Goozé and Fran Teague have each reminded me that none of us stops learning; some of us are just further along than others.
If I knew I could not fail, I would…
…sing the Brahm’s Requiem at Carnegie Hall, become artistic director for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, produce an opera for the Met, host a cooking show for Food Network and become marketing V.P. for a multi-national conglomerate – all before 30.
After graduation, I plan to…
…apply for the Lauder Program at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania to earn my M.B.A. and M.A. I would love to settle into an organization that allows me to travel and channel my creativity. I also plan on finding time for my master’s degree in musicology.
The one UGA experience I will always remember will be…
…my year abroad in Taiwan. The friends I made there came from all over the world, and I’ll never forget walking down the street and slipping in and out of Chinese, German and English in one conversation. Since we’ve dispersed to our respective countries, I have friends I will visit all over Europe and Asia whenever the wind blows me there.
