Patterson/Sutton Duo

Praised by The Strad magazine for their “wit and imagination”, the trailblazing Patterson/Sutton cello and guitar duo continue to be in demand as they bring the rich cello and guitar repertoire to audiences around the world. The Patterson/Sutton duo were featured artists at the 2016 Guitar Foundation of America Convention and have an ongoing relationship with The Juilliard School as Juilliard Global Visiting Artists. The duo have been featured on Performance Today/American Public Media, Radio New Zealand, Fine Music Radio South Africa, among many others.

The Patterson/Sutton Duo’s debut album Cold Dark Matter was released in 2013 on MSR Classics to critical acclaim. Composer and guitarist, Dušan Bogdanović declared: “Everything [on Cold Dark Matter] is performed with excellence and sensitivity. I especially like the beautiful tone and sense of lyricism, though the virtuosity of both is apparent.” The Duo continues to push the boundaries of the repertoire by commissioning new music for cello and guitar from top composers such as Stephen Goss and Ricardo Iznaola. Recent concert appearances include the Florida Guitar Foundation, Portland International Guitar Series, Knoxville Guitar Society, Cheyenne Guitar Society, University of Colorado Guitar Festival, Saigon Guitar Series in Vietnam, Shanghai Conservatory in China, Tulane University, University of Denver, Louisiana State University, Princeton Symphony Chamber Music Series, Strings Music Festival, and the Front Range Chamber Players, to name a few. Their research in the field of cello and guitar performance has culminated in lecture-recitals at the Dublin Guitar Symposium, International Guitar Research Center Conference in the UK, and the Guitar Foundation of America Convention. Soundboard magazine called their GFA talk “a deeply inspiring analysis and performance”.

The Patterson/Sutton Duo are strong believers in the transformative power of educational outreach. Funded by the US State Department, the duo held a guest-artist residency at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music in Kabul in 2014, where they worked with the budding generation of Afghan musicians and gave a performance at the Canadian Embassy of Afghanistan. More recently, The Juilliard School has sent the duo to Bratislava, Budapest, Dublin, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and New York City as guest-artists to perform and teach at international schools as part of the Juilliard/Nord Anglia global intuitive.

Dr. Kimberly Patterson holds degrees from the Juilliard School, the Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of Colorado at Boulder. Dr. Patrick Sutton holds degrees from the University of Denver and the University of Colorado at Boulder. The duo became husband and wife in June of 2017.