Photo by J. D. Sloan

A native of Uganda, Patrick Kabanda developed his interest in music while a chorister at Namirembe Cathedral in Kampala.  Kabanda is now pursuing a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy at The Fletcher School, Tufts University. He received his 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 2004 to 2011, he was School Organist and Instructor in Music at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. He has served as organist at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, as organist and music director at the Church of the Intercession, and as assisting organist at Wall Street’s Trinity Church in New York City.

He made his European debut at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London in 2003 and returned in 2004 at the invitation of London’s South African High Commission to perform in celebration of the Tenth Anniversary of South Africa’s Independence. In 2009, he performed at Åland Organ Festival on Åland Islands in the Baltic Sea. In Asia, he has performed at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, and in the United States, at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center and St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City and at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. He was also invited to play the Saint-Saëns “Organ” Symphony No. 3 with the Swarthmore College Orchestra in Philadelphia. On a Prairie Tour of southwest Manitoba, Canada (2006), he conducted workshops and performed in several rural communities; he was also featured on various broadcasting stations including the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
In July 2010, Kabanda visited Yei, southern Sudan; there he discussed Arts in Education, Agriculture and the Environment with students in secondary schools sponsored by the Africa Education and Leadership Initiative in partnership with the Government of South Sudan.  In 2008, he worked with a youth choir in Kigali, Rwanda and a youth band in Gulu, Northern Uganda.  In 2005, he toured Botswana, South Africa and Swaziland conducting research on southern African native music and the contributions of music to social action. In Egypt (2003), at the American University in Cairo, he led a discussion at the Sasakawa Young Leader’s regional forum on the role of music as a form of communication and also performed at the All Saints’ Cathedral, Cairo. During a tour of Uganda and Kenya (2000), he experimented with an infusion of African and Western instruments, gave performances, and taught classes on organ, piano, improvisation, and theory.

Kabanda has served as Dean of the Merrimack Valley Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.