The Café Royal Cultural Foundation NYC has awarded a 2026 Winter Music Production Grant to Patrick Cornelius for the release of his collection of large ensemble work, titled “We Dare”.  

Over the course of 25 years in New York City, alto saxophonist Patrick Cornelius has cultivated a substantial body of work as a composer and bandleader, and performed his original music in some of the world’s top jazz venues. Hailed as “self-assured” and “resourceful” by The New York Times, “Elegant” and “Extraordinary” by DownBeat Magazine, and “Bold and Gifted,” by All About Jazz, Cornelius has released ten albums as a leader or co-leader featuring established veterans and rising stars. Patrick is an active presence in the New York City music world. He performs regularly with a wide stylistic spectrum of ensembles, and has appeared as a sideman on 43 albums.

Cornelius’s reputation as an instrumental virtuoso whose compositions mine the intersection of groove and melody has earned him multiple composer awards, including four consecutive ASCAP “Young Composer Awards,” (now Herb Alpert Award) and two Chamber Music America “New Jazz Works” commissions (in 2012 and 2023). He has been commissioned to compose and arrange original music for large ensembles across the globe.

Patrick’s 10th and latest album, “Book Of Secrets” (Posi-Tone, 2023) features fellow Posi-Tone recording artists Art Hirahara (piano) and Behn Gillece (vibraphone), as well as veterans Peter Slavov (bass) and Vinnie Sperrazza (drums). “Book of Secrets” is a programmatic concept album that tells a narrative story of adventure and self-discovery.

An active music pedagogue, Patrick (who received a Bachelor’s Degree from Berklee College of Music, a Masters Degree from The Manhattan School of Music, and an Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School) has appeared as visiting artist or guest lecturer at international institutions such as Berklee College of Music, Juilliard, The Royal Academy of Music, the Birmingham Conservatoire, St. Mary’s University in Texas, The University of North Carolina, Hunter College in NYC, and Snow College in Utah. He currently serves on the music faculty of The United Nations International School in New York City and lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

We Dare is simultaneously a career retrospective and a tribute to the resilience and abundant creativity in New York’s big band scene. Ever since Patrick moved to New York city in 2001, he’s played in the saxophone section of scores of big bands. It’s been a creative mainstay of his life for so long. One day, during a 3 hour reading session at the old local 802 union hall, it occurred to Patrick how special and unique the creative jazz orchestra scene in New York City is. It takes a certain, let’s say, “joyful insanity” to spend the kind of mental and physical energy required to compose music for large ensemble, print and tape all the parts, organize rehearsals and a concert or two for extremely limited money all for the pure joy of hearing something you wrote come alive out of the one organ that spans the length and breadth of jazz history: the big band.

And on the other side of the conductor’s podium exists another kind of insanity; one he was actually quite familiar with. On any given night in New York City, there is a good chance that you could have the opportunity to hear 17 world-class instrumental virtuosos performing together for little more than their love of creative music, the community, and each other. We’re musical comrades in arms (or instruments), so to speak. 

During the COVID lockdowns, Patrick kept his creativity alive by beginning to write his own big band music. He joined the BMI Jazz Composers Collective, and started to build his large ensemble repertoire with the collective support and guidance from his fellow group members. While He focused mainly on adapting the music from his previous small group albums from the past 20 years, Patrick also wrote a brand new piece dedicated to all of New York’s joyfully insane large ensemble composers and musicians: We Dare. 

Patrick is extremely excited for the opportunity to bring to life, document, and release his entire collection of large ensemble works into the world (a true labor of love and inspiration).

Please visit Patrick’s Website and Instagram and for more information.