PAT SWOBODA
BASS
Patrick Swoboda is a bassist living and performing in New York City. Originally from South Kingstown Rhode Island, he holds both a BM and an MM from NYU's Steinhardt School. Comfortable on both upright and electric in any style or genre, Swoboda’s musical life is quite diverse. Beginning his bass studies at the age of 12, Swoboda was an avid jazz player growing up, winning the Outstanding Musicianship Award at the 2006 Berklee College of Music High School Jazz Festival, an award given to three players out of a field of thousands. Upon starting his higher education, Swoboda shifted his focus towards a more classically oriented training. At NYU, he studied with Joseph Bongiorno, renowned performer and teacher, and former student of Homer Mensch. Swoboda is an avid proponent of contemporary music and strives to draw on his diverse musical experiences to be an open and willing performer and collaborator.
Currently, Patrick Swoboda can be seen performing, both nationally and internationally, with Cuneiform Record's punk-jazz quartet Gutbucket. Along with members Ken Thomson, Ty Citerman and Adam Gold, Swoboda and Gutbucket recently completed a tour of Europe which included a weeklong education residency at the Franconian International School in Erlangen, Germany, as well as highlight performances at the Mediawave Festival in Komarom, Hungary, and Tonne Jazz Club in Dresden, Germany. Swoboda also holds the position of upright and electric bassist for Contemporaneous, a New York based contemporary chamber orchestra specializing in exciting and engaging programs of both new and old masterpieces of contemporary music. Furthermore, Swoboda is the bassist for Burning City Orchestra, a classical-rock hybrid ensemble featuring a rock rhythm section, vocals and string quintet.
Crossing from downtown to uptown, Swoboda has performed in a wide range of venues throughout New York City including Carnegie Hall, Le Poisson Rouge, Galapagos Art Space, Highline Ballroom, The Tank, Merkin Hall, and Symphony Space. In the summer of 2012, Swoboda was a Robert Black Bass Fellow at the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at Mass MoCA where he worked with legendary composer Steve Reich on the composer’s landmark piece for two rock bands 2x5.
Also an avid freelancer in New York City, Swoboda is a mainstay in New York's recording studios having played sessions with the likes of The Knights and Sufjans Stevens. Swoboda has performed with the New York Pops Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and the New York Pops Jazz Quartet for engagements all over the city. Also a accomplished musical pit player, Swoboda has played in the pit for a number of Broadway shows including this past winter's run of A Christmas Story at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater and the current run of The Nance at the Lyceum Theater.
For more information, visit patswoboda.com.
