Swing into Spring will transform UF’s Steinbrenner Band Hall into a big-band-era dance club this weekend.
The gala, hosted by UF Friends of Music, will support the College of Fine Arts and the School of Music Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Singer and band leader Michael Andrew will headline the gala, and Scott Wilson, UF assistant professor in jazz since fall, will make his premier.
Wilson said he hopes the swing theme will delight older guests.
“Older people will want to dance and it’s a memory of the past,” Wilson said. “It’s the equivalent of a whole bunch of college kids getting together and listening to Eminem saying ‘Oh, yeah I remember that.’”
Andrew, a crooner and former band leader at the Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center Club in New York City, was paid about $1,000 for this appearance, said Cherie Fine, president of the Friends of Music.
About 200 guests are expected to attend the gala, and each ticket costs $100, Fine said. Proceeds go toward the group’s scholarship fund for UF’s music department.
Although the tickets may be a little expensive for the average student, Fine said she feels students may want to spend their money to help the music department.
“What would it be like if there were no carillon bells or no Gator marching band at UF?” she asked. “It would be a dry and almost heartless place.”
