Professor McSwain received BM and MM degrees in piano performance from the University of Kentucky, and a Specialist degree in Collaborative Piano/Vocal Coaching from University of Michigan where she studied with internationally renowned vocal coach/accompanist Martin Katz. She has performed with soloists and ensembles in Canada and throughout the US and Spain, including touring and recording with the American Spiritual Ensemble. She served as a vocal coach for productions of Les Misérables, Porgy and Bess, La Bohème, La Traviata, Don Giovanni, and Les Contes d’Hoffmann among many others. Professor McSwain has served as a UKOT vocal coach since 2005, and has performed as a featured pianist in the popular Grand Night for Singing! since its inception in the early 1990s, and has served as Assistant Music Director for the past 16 years. In addition, McSwain has worked as a vocal coach/accompanist for the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, the voice studio of the late Madame Shirley Verrett, and the University of Michigan School of Music.