Patrick Godon made his debut as soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in May 2007, playing one of the solo piano parts, along with Mary Sauer, in Colin McPhee’s Tabuh-Tabuhan: Toccata for Orchestra and Two Pianos, with Alan Gilbert conducting. Since 2016, Godon has performed with the CSO on piano, celesta, organ and synthesizer.
He made his CSO debut as second keyboardist at the Ravinia Festival in 2003. He was invited to play principal keyboard on the CSO's 2018 East Coast Tour, 2017 European Tour, second keyboard on the CSO’s 2005 European Tour and for nine CSO Carnegie Hall performances. In 2015, he began performing regularly as organist with the CSO. He served as rehearsal pianist for Daniel Barenboim and Deborah Voigt for Schoenberg’s Erwartung.
Godon also performs as orchestral keyboardist with the Delaware, Milwaukee and Peoria symphony orchestras. He is in demand as a collaborative pianist and has performed many live broadcasts on Chicago's classical-music station WFMT-FM. In April 2018, he was the piano soloist in Beethoven's Choral Fantasy with the Symphony of Oak Park and River Forest at Orchestra Hall. In October 2017, he performed Grieg’s Piano Concerto with the Lake Shore Symphony Orchestra, with which he has also performed Schumann’s Piano Concerto, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.
In October 2010, he was the soloist in Dohnanyi’s Variations on a Nursery Rhyme with the West Suburban Symphony Orchestra. In 2005, Godon was the harpsichord soloist in Alfred Schnittke's Concerto Grosso No. 2 with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, along with violinist Gidon Kremer and cellist Kristina Blaumane. In 2004, Godon was the harpsichord soloist in Alfred Schnittke's Concerto Grosso No. 4 and Symphony No. 5 with violin Alicia Koelz and oboist Somerlie Aston. Godon has also appeared as soloist in Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 with the Symphony of Oak Park and River Forest, and in both 2002 and 2008 with the DePaul University Wind Ensemble in Hindemith's Konzertmusik, with Donald Deroche conducting.
A nine-year member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Godon served as principal pianist from 2002 to 2007. He performed in Civic's chamber music master classes for Mitsuko Uchida and Thomas Kakuska of the Alban Berg Quartet. The Civic Orchestra, celebrating its 100th season in 2020, invited Godon as a distinguished alumnus to perform the organ part for a performance of Saint-Saëns' Organ Symphony.
In July 2011, Godon became the music director of the Tower Chorale, based in Western Springs. A 90-voice choir, the Tower Chorale has been in existence since 1986. The ensemble performs three concerts throughout the year: Christmas, masterworks and pops.
Godon is the artistic director and pianist for the International Chamber Artists, a chamber music ensemble that he founded in 2006. ICA showcases a diverse group of professional musicians and performs a variety of repertoire. Through educational components during performances, ICA seeks to sustain the future of classical-music audiences. ICA performs a series of five concerts at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Lake Forest. It also has been featured on WFMT, at the Chicago Cultural Center, the Morse Theater, St. James Cathedral, St. Gregory the Great Church, the Belden Stratford Hotel, the Schaumburg Prairie Center for the Arts and the Harris Theater for Music and Dance. ICA went on its first international tour to Germany in September 2009 to critical acclaim.
In 2010, Godon toured Japan twice as duo pianist with Reiko Yamada. They performed concerts in Tokyo and Nikko of music by Akira Ifukube, composer of the original Godzilla film score. They returned to Japan in August 2014 to present concerts in honor of Ifukube's 100-year birth anniversary. In August 2018, Godon was named the organist/choirmaster at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Lake Forest. He oversees the music program and leads the St. Gregory’s Youth Choir, Holy Spirit Choir and Evensong Choir. He will lead the Holy Spirit Choir on a weeklong residency at Canterbury Cathedral in August 2024.
From July 2003 to August 2018, Godon was the director of music at St. Gregory the Great Church in the Andersonville/Edgewater neighborhood, where he composed and arranged a variety of music for liturgies. He led the Parish Choir on international performance tours to Panama, France, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Turkey. Accepting an invitation from the chapel master of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City to participate in the 500th anniversary of the Cappella Giulia, he returned to Italy with the choir in March 2013. He records demo CDs as pianist and organist for World Library Publications and for the Gregorian Institute of America, which are sent to church musicians nationwide.
A native of Fargo, North Dakota, Godon began his studies with Mary Sauer, then CSO principal piano, in 1997. He studied with Andrzej Dutkiewitz at the Interlochen Arts Camp in 1995, and with Jacob Lateiner in New York City at the Mannes Beethoven Institute in 2001. In 2000, he studied opera coaching with Linda Hirt and Benton Hess in Urbania, Italy, through the Oberlin Conservatory. He holds bachelor of music and master of music degrees in piano performance from DePaul University.
Please note: Biographies are based on information provided to the CSO by the artists or their representatives. More current information may be available on websites of the artists or their management.
