Blair Boone-Migura - Founder & Executive Director
In addition to being a recognized leader in arts administration, Blair Boone-Migura is also an educator, classical musician, and was the public radio show host of Singing & Other Sins on NPR-Hawaii. He is also a published music and film journalist whose written many reviews and profiles as well as interviewed a wide range of personalities that include Grammy-winning artists, American composer, Dominick Argento and Haitian-American artist, Wyclef Jean, along with Grammy-nominated artists, American composer, Ned Rorem, German Baritone, Matthias Goerne, and American jazz pianist, Fred Hersch.
Blair is a guest lecturer at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in the Music Department, where he teaches a course in French & German song literature and private voice lessons. He has also taught courses in vocal pedagogy, coached the opera workshop, and given masterclasses in French song. Additionally, Blair has worked as an adjunct faculty member at The New School, Hunter College, and Queensborough College in New York.
In 2010, Blair founded the nonprofit arts organization The Art Song Preservation Society of New York (ASPS) where he also serves as Executive Director. ASPS is dedicated to revitalizing the art song tradition through education and performance. Blair founded ASPS because of his concern over the decline and deep interest in promoting this neglected area of vocal literature and in honor of his mentor of twenty-two years, master French and German song specialist, Mary Trueman (1915-2008). Blair studied voice with Mary Trueman (Rice University), JoElyn Walkefied-Wright (Syracuse University), Elisabeth Schroeder (The Strasbourg Conservatory of Music) and Elem Eley (Westminster Choir College). Blair also studied piano accompaniment with Mary Trueman, Steve Heyman (Syracuse University) and continues to study piano privately with Edward Nemirovsky in NYC and Shirley Kirsten. He has also received private instruction from concert and collaborative pianists like Mark Markham, Aaron Pilsan, Thomas Grubb and Frank Daykin, and has played in piano workshops taught by Graham Fitch and Warren Mailley-Smith.
Blair's expertise extends to judging competitions, a testament to his knowledge and experience. He has adjudicated the NATS vocal competitions, the Mary Trueman Art Song Vocal Competition, the Duncan Williams Vocal Competition (song division), and numerous talent shows like the semi-finals of the Ms. Teen USA competition in NYC.
Blair has a bachelor’s degree in Voice Performance (honors) and a master’s degree in French Language, Literature and Culture from Syracuse University. He also studied voice and piano at the Strasbourg Conservatory of Music in Strasbourg, France, and he holds a second master's degree in Vocal Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, where he graduated with honors and distinction. Blair is also a recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award bestowed by the office of President Barack Obama during his administration for a demonstrated commitment to building a stronger nation through community and volunteer service.
In 2022, Blair was elected as President of the Hawaii chapter of the Alliance Française where he has been a Board member since 2017, and he is married to Dr. Anthony Migura, a critical-care physician at Advanced ICU Care, a pulmonary/critical care Intensivist at Queens Hospital, and an assistant clinical professor with UH Medical School. They divide their time between New York City and Honolulu, Hawai'i.
Additional information about Blair Boone-Migura:
In May 2013, Blair had the honor of assisting the legendary piano collaborator Dalton Baldwin, along with two of French song's most accomplished sopranos Elly Ameling and Rosemarie Landry, alongside several other highly notable adjudicators of distinction, in the development and execution of the Positively Poulenc Vocal Competition and Recital at the Lincoln Center Performing Arts Library. Blair previously served as the Arts Administrative Director at The International Vocal Arts Institute (IVAI) in New York with co-founders, Joan Dornemann and Paul Nadler.
In April and May 2014, Blair collaborated with the French American Cultural Exchange and the Artistic Department of the French Cultural Services and aided in the execution of two arts festivals: ART2, A French-American Platform on Contemporary Art, and DANSE, A French-American Festival of Performance & Ideas.
From September 2016 to February 2020, Blair joined Gary Hickling as a co-host on "Singing & Other Sins" a radio show that Hickling created that aired on Saturdays on Hawai`i Public Radio KHPR 88.1-FM at 5pm HST. On the show, Blair presented on-air and online content on artists such as: Swedish tenor, Jussi Björling, American soprano, Jessye Norman, American pianist, Dalton Baldwin, art song composers Richard Strauss and Henri Duparc, and interviews with prominent artists like American composers, Dominick Argento and Ned Rorem, American conductor and pianist, Thomas Muraco, American collaborative pianist and author, Thomas Grubb, American pianist, Mark Markham, and James Gandre the President of Manhattan School of Music. Program archives can be found: http://lottelehmannleague.org/ singing-sins-archive/
Blair has appeared on Bravo’s Queer Eye For The Straight Guy as the Fab 5’s original culture expert. He has been a model for the accessible French luxury brand, The Kooples. Blair has been a featured critic on VH1, has appeared as a guest on The Howard Stern Show , the weekly podcast Verbal Shenanigans, and was featured as a gymnast in a Panasonic commercial promoting the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
Listen below to Blair Boone-Migura as co-host of Singing & Other Sins on NPR-Hawaii.
Interview with Mark Markham, a prominent pianist with a long history or partnering with world class singers such as soprano Jessye Norman (1945-2019) & Black History Month Celebrating African American Singers
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Blair Boone-Migura
on Wyclef Jean
| blair_boone-miguras_wyclef_jean_interview.pdf |
Blair Boone-Migura on JR Vasquez
| blair_boone-miguras_junior_vasquez_interview.pdf |
Blair Boone-Migura Reviews
| blair_boone-miguras_lotus_lounge_review.pdf |
| blair_boone-miguras_amandla_film_review_.pdf |
| blair_boone-miguras_whitney_houston_review.pdf |
| blair_boone-miguras_standing_in_the_shadow_of_motown_review.pdf |
Blair Boone-Migura's Profile on Fred Hersch
| blair_boone-migura_fred_hersch_profile.pdf |