Patrick Cassidy

Patrick Cassidy (born 1956) is an Irish orchestral, choral, and film score composer. Early life and education Cassidy was born in Claremorris, County Mayo, Ireland. He received a BSC in Applied Mathematics from the University of Limerick in 1985 and supported his early compositional activities with a day job as a statistician and technology analyst. Work He is known for his narrative cantatas – works he has written for orchestra and choir based on Irish mythology - and for the aria ‘Vide Cor Meum’ originally composed for the film ‘Hannibal’, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Anthony Hopkins. The libretto for the latter aria was taken from Dante’s first sonnet in ‘La Vita Nuova’. The Children of Lir, released in September 1993, remained at number one in the Irish classical charts for a full year. It was the first cantata written in the Irish language since the work of Paul McSwiney in the late 1800s. The BBC later produced an hour-long documentary on the piece. Famine Remembrance, a commissioned piece to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Irish Famine, was premiered in New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral in 1996. In June 2007, the piece was performed at the opening of Toronto's Ireland Park with the President of Ireland as a special guest.