UT Alumni Composers to Be Featured in April 17 Concert

On Tuesday, April 17, two University of Tampa music alumni — Tevi Eber ’11 and George Darrah ’11 — will perform and present their music during a concert at 7:30 p.m. in the Sykes Chapel and Center for Faith and Values. The concert will include UT students, faculty and ensembles, and is free and open to the public.

The concert will be the highlight of a two-day residency at UT, during which Eber and Darrah will give lectures and master classes, and coach ensembles. There will be a reception following the concert.

Eber is a Manhattan-based composer, lyricist, conductor, arranger and performer. He is a two-time nominee for an award in music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and is the winner of the 2017 Gregg Smith National Choral Composition Contest. Additionally, he has received fellowships from The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, The Wintergreen Music Festival and Academy, The Atlantic Music Festival and The Seal Bay Festival of Chamber Music.

Performances of Eber’s music will include the world premiere of his Piano Trio No. 1 with the UT artist-in-residence ensemble Trio de Minaret, and selected musical theatre songs with UT musical theatre students Abigail Daner ’20 and Brandon Guzman ’18.

Darrah is a Boston-based composer, and a dynamic drummer in different styles, including jazz trios, be-bop, funk, pop, jazz and big band. This past year he wrote an arrangement of Swanee for Jeff Tyzik and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and received a Downbeat award for Best Arrangement for Too Close for Comfort.

Performances of Darrah’s music will include the world premieres of his piece Journey with the UT Wind Ensemble and Ybor City with UT jazz students and faculty.

For more information, contact Bradford Blackburn, chair/associate professor of music, at (813) 257-3399 or bblackburn@ut.edu.