UT’s Bill Swartzbaugh to Give Contemporary Bass Recital Oct. 5

On Monday, Oct. 5, longtime University of Tampa music faculty member Bill Swartzbaugh will give a contemporary bass recital at 7:30 p.m. in Plant Hall’s Grand Salon. The event is free and open to the public.

The concert will include selections from a wide range of musical styles, including classical, Broadway, jazz and pop.

Joining Swartzbaugh are Tara Swartzbaugh, piano/keyboard; Jim Rungo, drums; David Pate, saxophone; Rod Keiser, jazz piano; and musical theatre students Julia Rifino ’17 and Sam Boatwright ’18, vocals.

Bill Swartzbaugh has more than 40 years’ experience working in rock and roll, top 40, jazz, circus, studio work and musical theater, as well as playing behind many of the well-known names in the entertainment industry. Recently he has performed on both upright and electric bass for such groups as the Broadway Touring companies of Young Frankenstein, Wicked and West Side Story, the Charlotte Orchestra, the Irish Tenors and Mitzi Gaynor, Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell and Fabian. Swartzbaugh is also involved with the UT theatre and music departments, where he is an instructor in applied music studies.

Tara Swartzbaugh teaches piano and music theory for performing arts at UT. She accompanies at the University and extensively in the Tampa area, including H.B. Plant High School, and serves as the director of music at First Presbyterian Church of Brandon.

Rungo is one of the top show drummers in the Tampa Bay area.

Pate teaches jazz and saxophone at Pinellas School for the Arts and St. Petersburg College. He is a veteran of many Broadway musicals and jazz groups and a member of Bogus Pomp.

Keiser is retired from the Air Force Military Band and was a music educator for many years. He is a well-known freelance pianist in the Tampa Bay area.

Rifino and Boatwright are both members of UT’s OPUS, a small auditioned ensemble of mixed voices that primarily performs Broadway and popular repertoire. Both played major roles in UT’s production of Les Misérables last fall.

For more information, contact the music department at music@ut.edu or (813) 253-6212.