Keith Sweger, Guest Bassoon Recital and Masterclass

3:00 pm Recital followed by a masterclass

Keith Sweger, professor of bassoon, joined Ball State University School of Music faculty in the fall of 1993. His responsibilities include teaching applied bassoon and performing with the Musical Arts Quintet (MAQ), faculty ensemble in residence at Ball State University and a recipient of a 2010 American Masterworks grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

Sweger has performed with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, American Wind Symphony, Anderson Symphony, Madison Symphony, Marion Philharmonic, Oshkosh Symphony, South Bend Symphony, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Penn’s Woods Festival, and Green Lake Festival Orchestras. He was co-founder of the Algoma Wind Quintet, the resident faculty quintet at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and from 1988 through 1995, was a member of the Oakwood Chamber Players of Madison, WI. Sweger is currently principal bassoon with the Muncie Symphony Orchestra, contrabassoon with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic and performs regularly as first-call extra bassoon/contrabassoon with the Indianapolis Symphony and Indianapolis Opera Orchestras.

His recording credits include the CDs Songs of Madness and Sorrow, On the Beach At Night,Expressions in Units, Christmas Lights and August Was Foggy. The recent Albany Records release by Sweger and the MAQ, American Breeze, has been received with critical acclaim. Partially funded by an NEA grant, the CD includes works by American composers Bruce Adolphe, Amy Beach, Jenni Brandon, Jennifer Higdon, David Maslanka, and Steven Stucky. In addition, he has recorded such diverse projects as touring ice shows, national tours of Broadway shows, and cartoon scores.

Sweger has been a recitalist at conferences of the International Clarinet Association (ICA), Society of Composers, Inc. (SCI), College Music Society (CMS), National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors (NACWPI), Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), and Music Educators National Conference (MENC) as well as at colleges and universities around the country and abroad. He performed and presented masterclasses at the 2011 Asian Double Reed Association (ADRA) conference in Bangkok, Thailand and the 2012 Beijing International Bassoon Festival in Beijing, China. Sweger is scheduled to present a masterclass and to serve as a competition judge at the 2014 ADRA conference in Chiayi, Taiwan. Active in the International Double Reed Society (IDRS), Sweger is a regular performer at IDRS conferences and has served on its executive committee since 2006, currently holding the position of first vice president. Additionally, he was chair of the 2008 and 2010 Gillet-Fox International Bassoon Competition and hosted the 2006 IDRS conference on the Ball State University campus.

Strongly committed to teaching, Sweger is in demand as a clinician and guest teacher at colleges and universities and at summer festivals and camps. His students have received many honors and are playing in orchestras and teaching in universities, colleges and public schools around the country. Former or current students have won the assistant principal bassoon position with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, principal bassoon position with the Michigan Opera Theater, contrabassoon/section bassoon with the Grand Rapids Symphony, co-principal bassoon and associate bassoon positions with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and co-principal bassoon position with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Yucatan (Merida, Mexico). His undergraduate students have been accepted into graduate programs at Rice, Juilliard, New England Conservatory, Cleveland Institute of Music, Peabody, McGill, Michigan, San Francisco Conservatory, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Mannes School of Music and others and his students have been selected to attend the Tanglewood, Aspen, Sarasota, Kent Blossom, Texas, Brevard, Eastern, Opera in the Ozarks, Manchester, Tuscia Opera Festival, Bowdoin, Penn’s Woods. Ohio Light Opera, and Domaine Forget Music Festivals.  Sweger was the recipient of the 2007 College of Fine Arts Dean’s Teaching, the 2008 IMEA Outstanding University Music Educator, and the 2013 College of Fine Arts Dean’s Creative Endeavor Award.

Sweger earned the doctor of musical arts degree in bassoon performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1990. In addition, he holds degrees from Bowling Green State University and Lebanon Valley College. His principal studies have been with Richard Lottridge, formerly with the Chicago and New Orleans Symphony Orchestras, and Robert J. Moore, formerly with the National Symphony Orchestra.

Sweger is a Fox Artist (http://www.foxproducts.com) and performs on a Fox 201.