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Patrick Vaccariello is Hartt Alumnus of the Year
Broadway Veteran Honored by The Hartt School

WEST HARTFORD, CT: The Hartt School of the University of Hartford in Connecticut has announced that accomplished Broadway music director and supervisor Patrick Vaccariello will be honored as Hartt Alumnus of the Year for 2008. The award will be conferred on Mr. Vaccariello, who received his Bachelor’s degree in 1980, during Commencement ceremonies on Sunday, May 18.

Patrick Vaccariello started his theatrical career while in high school doing local theatre at the New Britain Repertory Theatre, Central Connecticut State University, The Windsor Jesters and the Hartford Stage Company. After graduating college, he toured the country doing regional dinner theatre. What was supposed to be one show at the Goodspeed Opera House turned into many, as Patrick spent five years with the theatre and became the company’s associate music director. One of their shows, Take Me Along, transferred to New York City and marked Patrick’s Broadway Debut. Several National Tours followed, including Cats, Starlight Express and The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

On Broadway, Patrick has been the Music Director and Supervisor for Cats, Joseph…Dreamcoat, Victor/Victoria, Cabaret with Natasha Richardson and Alan Cumming, Jesus Christ Superstar, Dance of the Vampires with Michael Crawford, Gypsy with Bernadette Peters, The Boy From Oz starring Hugh Jackman and La Cage aux Folles, and currently is the Music Supervisor of A Chorus Line and Music Director of Gypsy with Patti LuPone. Cast Recordings include Cabaret, Gypsy, A Chorus Line and The Boy From Oz. International credits include Cabaret and The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber with such stars as Michael Crawford, Sarah Brightman, Elaine Paige, Fei Xiang and Michael Bolton. Television credits include Andrew Lloyd Webber: Masterpiece filmed at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, multiple Tony Award Telecasts, The David Letterman Show, The View, The Rosie O’Donnell Show and numerous other daily talk shows. Patrick also has conducted at Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall and City Center. Upcoming for Patrick is the National Tour of A Chorus Line and the Broadway Revival of West Side Story, directed by its book writer, Arthur Laurents. Patrick is the proud son of Mr. and Mrs. Paschal Vaccariello of New Britain, Connecticut.

The Hartt School is the internationally acclaimed performing arts conservatory of the University of Hartford with innovative degree programs in music, dance and theatre, and a community arts school. With more than 400 concerts, recitals, plays, master classes, dance performances and musical theatre productions a year, performance is central to Hartt’s curriculum. For more information, visit www.hartford.edu/hartt. 

Chartered in 1957, the University of Hartford offers undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs in the arts, the humanities, business, engineering and technology, education, and the health professions. A “private university with a public purpose,” its student body of 7,300 represents 46 states and more than 50 countries. For more information, visit www.hartford.edu.