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Jazz Vocalist Inga Swearingen Returns to FSU

Florida State University alumna Inga Swearingen will kick off the College of Music’s 2022-23 University Musical Associates (UMA) concert season as featured guest vocalist in a Friday, Sept. 9, jazz faculty concert in Opperman Music Hall.

The performance begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are free for FSU students with an ID, $7 for seniors and non-FSU students and $10 for general admission.

Swearingen will join vocalist Avis Berry, a three-time FSU alumna, and jazz faculty members Scotty Barnhart (trumpet), David Detweiler (saxophone), Bill Peterson (piano), Rodney Jordan (bass) and Leon Anderson Jr. (percussion) in a selection of jazz standards and contemporary hits to start the 2022-23 concert season in style.

An alumna of the College of Music, Inga Swearingen has recorded and released four albums: Learning How To Fly; Reverie; Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair; and Let Me Call This Home. These albums include classic and contemporary jazz favorites like “Fly Me To The Moon” and “Misty.”

“The wonderful California-based jazz vocalist Inga Swearingen will be joined by the FSU faculty jazz septet for an evening familiar standards, originals, and spirituals,” says Bill Peterson, Professor of Jazz Piano at FSU. “Inga has a special vocal sound that really connects with audiences world-wide. She will also be joined by our own Avis Berry for a special duet.”

While at Florida State University, Swearingen and Bill Peterson recorded an album together (Reverie) and says that they will “get to revisit a few of those songs at our upcoming concert.”

Works for the evening will also include familiar favorites like “Ain’t Misbehavin’” (Fats Waller), “Birk’s Works” (Dizzy Gillespie), and “The Nearness of You” (Hoagy Carmichael), as well as the African-American spiritual “Down by the Riverside” and “No Sandwich!”, a new composition by Peterson.


The University Musical Associates season will continue with more exciting events that feature FSU’s bands, orchestras, and choirs. See the season and buy tickets here

This concert will also be live-streamed through WFSU at the time of show; the link and additional information can be found in the Facebook event here.


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