Tonglen Tunes: Musical Moments in the Woods

Kirsten Blair 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 University of Arizona in Tucson; 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, and most recently, with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra in Ballet Arizona’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. 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’s Opera Workshop, and internationally with Théâtre Roger Barat in France and the Lowveld Chamber Music Association in South Africa. Selected roles include: Lucy (Menotti’s The Telephone), Frasquita (Carmen), and Roxy LaRue in the World Premiere of The Color of Gold. She 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, Kirsten returned to campus to pursue a D.M.A. in 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. Dr. Blair is presently residing in Fairbanks, Alaska, with her family and serving her community as the Board President of Fairbanks Light Opera Theatre, Director of the Great Land Sounds Barbershop Chorus, and Outreach Coordinator at the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival.

Scott Stephen Hansen is a born-and-raised Alaskan composer; arranger; performer; and recording engineer based in Fairbanks. He is an active orchestral performer and multi-instrumentalist with special attention devoted to Musical Theater. Scott has recorded and produced music for a wide variety of performers including contemporary and popular music ensembles; Voices of Change – Dallas; and The
Minnesota Orchestra, with multiple audio and video recordings premiering at the National Flute Association and Texas Music Educators Association.
In addition to scoring award-winning short films directed by Alaskan filmmakers Silas Firth and Maya Salganek, Scott has had music placed in multimedia for the 2017 International Week of the Arctic and has international performance credits and commissions. In 2019 he completed undergraduate degrees at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in piano performance and music composition, and in 2021 received his Master of Music in music composition from Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas. He received the NAMM President's Innovation Award in 2020 for research on composition and music technology.

Currently on staff at the University of Alaska Fairbanks as Director of Performance Operations for the College of Liberal Arts, he continues to perform and compose. He is published in part by Alry Publications and United Music and Media Publishers, with international performance credits and commissions.