“A superb cellist” - Chicago Sun Times

Hailed by the Chicago Sun Times as a “superb cellist,” Dr. Kimberly Patterson has earned recognition for her artistry as a solo, chamber, and orchestral musician. A Juilliard graduate, Dr. Patterson was the founding cellist for the Tesla Quartet, winners of the 2012 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition as well as prizewinners of the 2012 London International Quartet Competition and the 2013 Bordeaux International Quartet Competition. She has given chamber recitals in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall and Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center and has held chamber music residencies with Strings Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Bravo! Vail Valley, Iris Chamber Orchestra, Salt Lake Chamber Music Society, Chamber Music Tulsa, and a quartet residency at the University of Colorado at Boulder with the Takács Quartet. 

Dr. Patterson is the Associate Professor of Cello at the University of Memphis  and cellist of the Ceruti Quartet, as well as the String Area Coordinator. She is also the cellist of the Patterson/Sutton cello and guitar duo.  Their debut album, “Cold Dark Matter: Music for Cello & Guitar,” was released by MSR records in 2013 and subsequent album, “Still Life: Collected Music for Cello and Guitar by Stephen Goss” was released on Parma Records in 2020. The Patterson / Sutton duo have concertized as Juilliard Global Visiting Artists and have performed throughout Vietnam, China, Afghanistan and the United States. The duo have presented a lectures at the Guitar Foundation of America National Convention and the International Guitar Research Center in Surrey, UK. The article written by Dr. Patterson for the lectures, "Eclectic Influences: An In-Depth Look at Stephen Goss's 'Park of Idols' for Cello and Guitar," was published as the cover article in Soundboard Magazine, (Feb. 2016).

As a soloist, Dr. Patterson has appeared with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, the Manila Symphony of the Philippines, and the Jefferson Symphony, toured nationally with the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet Company performing a solo piece by David Lang, and presented  recitals in the China, Vietnam, Ireland, UK, France, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Netherlands, Afghanistan, and throughout the United States. Festival appearances include the Verbier Festival, Strings Music Festival, Holland Music Sessions, Aspen Music Festival & School, Sarasota Music Festival & the Miyazaki Festival.

In addition to her extensive chamber music career, Dr. Patterson was a member of the Colorado Symphony. She has also performed with the Utah Symphony, the Verbier Orchestra in Switzerland, the Juilliard Orchestra, Iris Orchestra, Central City Opera, the New Haven Symphony and was personally invited by Charles Dutoit to perform with the Miyazaki Orchestra in Japan.  

A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music with academic honors, Dr. Patterson earned her Master's of Music Degree at the Juilliard School and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her teachers include Richard Aaron, Andras Fejer, Judith Glyde and Stephen Geber.