Blair Boone-Migura

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 former public radio show host of Singing & Other Sins on NPR-Hawaii. He is also a published music and film journalist who’s written many reviews and profiles and interviewed a wide range of personalities, including Grammy-winning artists like American composer Dominick Argento and Haitian-American artist Wyclef Jean, as well as Grammy-nominated artists such as American composer Ned Rorem, German baritone Matthias Goerne, and American jazz pianist Fred Hersch. In August 2024, Blair contributed a written reflection and essay titled "Bridging Cultural Divides in Classical Music Interpretation," which accompanied the liner notes for the CD William Grant Still: American Art Song, performed by German-American baritone Gabrielle Rollinson, soprano Yajie Zhang, and pianist Hartmut Höll.

Recognized as the original culture maven on Bravo TV's Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Blair has also served as a featured critic on VH1, appeared as a guest on The Howard Stern Show and the weekly podcast Verbal Shenanigans, and was showcased as a gymnast in a Panasonic commercial promoting the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

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. Blair is also an invited guest lecturer in the area of French vocal literature at Florida State University's College of Music, and has been a livestream presenter on the Tonebase Voice platform where he also serves as a mentor to singers enrolled in the Fast-Track vocal coaching program in art song repertoire, audition preparation, and vocal technique.

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. Each year ASPS presents a series of masterclass, workshops, and recital events focused on art song performance and education called Summer of Song Festival hosted by the renowned music conservatory Manhattan School of Music in New York City. 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 Walkefield-Wright (Syracuse University), Elisabeth Schroeder (the Strasbourg Conservatory of Music), and Elem Eley (Westminster Choir College). He also studied piano accompaniment with Mary Trueman and Steve Heyman (Syracuse University) and continues to study piano privately with Edward Nemirovsky and Nathanial LaNasa in NYC. He has also received private instruction from concert and collaborative pianists, including Dalton Baldwin, Mark Markham, Shirley Kirsten, Carter Johnson, Aaron Pilsan, Thomas Grubb, Frank Daykin, and Denis Zhdanov, and has participated 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 President of the Hawaii chapter of the Alliance Française, where he has been a board member since 2017. 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 co-hosted Singing & Other Sins with Gary Hickling, a radio show created by Hickling that aired on Saturdays on Hawai`i Public Radio KHPR 88.1-FM at 5 p.m. 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/

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. (PHOTO: The Original Cast of Queer Eye For The Straight Guy.