Kirsten Blair and Dario Martin in Concert

Name: Kirsten Blair and Dario Martin in Concert
Start: 2024-11-16T19:00:00-09:00
Location: Juneau Arts & Culture Center

Schedule

Sat Nov 16 2024 at 07:00 pm

UTC-09:00

Location

Juneau Arts & Culture Center | Juneau, AK

Soprano Kirsten Blair and Pianist Darío Martín present a program of Cuban and American songs.
November 16, 7pm at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center
General Admission: $25
Senior Admission: $20
Student Admission: $10
+$5 at the door

BIOS:
Kirsten Blair, soprano, enjoys a vibrant musical lifestyle as a soloist, performer, private teacher, and classroom instructor. Kirsten appears frequently in solo and collaborative recital, having performed at Arizona State University, the Eastman School of Music in New York, San Francisco Conservatory, Loyola University in Louisiana, Athens, Greece, East London, White River and Nelspruit, South Africa, and in her home states of Maine and Alaska. She has shared the orchestral stage as a soloist, with ensembles such as the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra, the Northern Lights String Orchestra, the Uplands Festival Orchestra in South Africa, the American Institute of Musical Studies: Graz Festival Orchestra, the Arizona State University Orchestra, the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, and most recently with the Varna International Muzika! Academy Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Gregory Buchalter of the Metropolitan Opera.
Kirsten has performed as a featured soloist with the Arizona Women’s Collaborative, the UAF New Music Festival, the Vianden Festival in Luxembourg, and two consecutive sessions in Zimbabwe for Music Inspire Africa. She has played several principal roles with Opera Fairbanks, Anchorage Opera, University of Alaska Fairbanks Opera Workshop, and internationally with Théâtre Roger Barat in France and the Lowveld Chamber Music Association in South Africa. Selected roles include Rose (Weill’s “Street Scene”), Lucy (Menotti's “The Telephone”), Frasquita (“Carmen”), and Roxy LaRue in the World Premiere of “The Color of Gold.”
Kirsten completed her Graduate Teaching Assistantship at the University of Alaska Fairbanks under the artistry of Dr. Jaunelle Celaire and joined their faculty as an adjunct professor for private and class voice, ear-training, and music appreciation. After completing her 200hr Yoga Teacher Training in Bali, Indonesia, Kirsten returned to campus in pursuit of a D.M.A. in Applied Voice at Arizona State University as a student of Dr. Stephanie Weiss. While in Arizona, she completed a second Graduate Assistantship teaching private and class voice, served as the ASU Community Music School Voice Instructor, and was a recipient of the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA) Teaching Excellence Award in 2020. A passionate teacher and coach, she maintains a virtual and in-person studio, and enjoys working with singers in group and workshop environments. Kirsten is currently serving her community as the Board President of Fairbanks Light Opera Theatre, Director of the Great Land Sounds Barbershop Chorus, and Outreach Coordinator for the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival.

A native of Havana, Cuba, Dario Martin is a versatile pianist with an international career in solo performance, chamber music, and collaborative piano. He has won first prizes in international piano competitions in Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, and the United States. Notably, he won the Concerto Competition at Indiana University in 2018, performing Ligeti’s Piano Concerto as a soloist. Other awards include First Prize in the Jose Jacinto Cuevas Yamaha Piano International Competition in Mexico and First Prize in the National Piano Competition UNEAC in Havana, Cuba. He joined the music faculty at the University of Alaska - Fairbanks in 2023. At UAF he teaches Functional Piano and Music Fundamentals, in addition to his duties as Collaborative Pianist for the Music Department. He collaborates with the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra, the Choir of the North, students, faculty and guest artists at UAF.
Dr. Martin’s active performance career has brought him to concert halls in Austria, Costa Rica, Cuba, England, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Panama, Spain, and the United States. He has played as a soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba, the Havana Chamber Orchestra and the Yucatan Symphony Orchestra among others. His recent presentations include solo recitals at the University of Houston, the San Diego Museum of Art, Mississippi’s FestivalSouth, as well as collaborative work at the Austrian American Mozart Academy in Salzburg.
Dr. Martin finished his doctoral studies in Piano Literature and Performance at Indiana University-Bloomington in the studio of Arnaldo Cohen, with minors in Collaborative Piano and Music Education. Previous studies include a master’s degree and Performer’s Diploma at Southern Methodist University, with renowned artist Joaquin Achucarro, in addition to his Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance earned at the Instituto Superior de Arte of Havana in 2011.
Dr. Martin is also a dedicated pedagogue. He began teaching piano back in Cuba at the Amadeo Roldan Conservatory of Havana from 2011 to 2013. In Dallas, he taught at the RBR Muzik School, in addition to keeping an engaged private studio. At Indiana University he taught group piano class and individual lessons for three years. In recent years, he has increasingly performed and taught online, using technology as a tool to engage students and new audiences. Dr. Martin worked as a Collaborative Pianist at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg from 2020 to 2023.
His first CD, El Album de la Ciudad Celeste, was released in Cuba in 2011 and received the Cubadisco Award to the Best Classical Solo Album. Other recordings include the CD Netzaj, alongside trumpet player Fadev Sanjudo, and Up into the silence with singer Diana Fuentes. His second solo album, Juegos de Agua, was recorded by FT Music in Mexico. He is supported by the Joaquin Achucarro Foundation, which has named him one of its legacy pianists.