Kathryn Swisher ’05 recently returned to Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart in Lake Forest to direct an all-school assembly concert by “Redhot & Blue,” Yale University’s oldest co-ed a capella ensemble. The 17-member choral group performed a variety of entertaining numbers, including a parody of Harvard’s alma mater, Rubber Ducky, and several classics from their jazz repertoire. The concert concluded with an impromptu musical exchange between Redhot & Blue and Woodland’s award-winning student-directed a capella ensemble, “Microscope.” The Yale and Woodlands singers’ choral collaboration was particularly memorable because Swisher directed Microscope during her senior year at Woodlands.

Swisher, a sophomore majoring in piano in the Yale School of Music, is Redhot & Blue’s 2006-2007 assistant director, winter tour manager, and alto section leader. She joined the Yale ensemble to pursue her passion for a capella singing, an interest she developed at Woodlands as a two-and-a-half-year member and former director of Woodlands’ Microscope.

“Auditioning for Redhot & Blue turned out to be the best choice I’ve made so far at Yale,” Swisher explains. “I wanted to find a singing group that was small enough that I could get to know all the members, and I hoped those people would become some of my closest friends, just as the members of Microscope were my closest friends at Woodlands. I’m very glad I made that decision: not only am I still singing, but I’ve found my niche with several new friends who share my love of music.”

In addition to her work with Redhot & Blue, Swisher is the principal violist for the Yale Saybrook Orchestra and the Assistant Conductor of Yale’s Davenport Pops Orchestra. She plans to pursue a career in piano performance.

Swisher’s numerous and varied musical distinctions include the Yale Club of Chicago’s Willys Monroe Award, given each year to a Yale freshman who best represents “eclectic musical interests as well as intellectual curiosity,” and several first place piano competition awards and music scholarships. As a junior at Woodlands, she earned the opportunity to perform Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor with the Lake Forest Symphony Orchestra. She has also played in the Musicians Club of Women of Chicago’s Classical Monday Concert Series at the Chicago Cultural Center.

Swisher is the daughter of retired Captain Raymond and Jane Swisher of Lake Forest.