Biography

Blair Skinner is an American musician in the bygone tradition of the beloved Kapellmeister. While his passions reside in conducting orchestral music, he is a versatile ensemble leader and member - committed to authenticity in diverse cultural experiences and musical genres. He is committed to educating his ensembles and audiences in the deepest appreciation of music-making.

Currently, he serves as the Orchestra Conductor for Opportunity Music Project, an organization that provides tuition-free private lessons, classes in music theory, and large ensemble experience at beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels to students from all five boroughs of New York City. Blair conducts the three orchestras in weekly rehearsals, and chooses programs that address the pedagogical needs of each group - training them to advance through the program and be successful in their endeavors beyond. He is deeply committed to planning a variety of repertoire that pays homage to the tradition of orchestral training, promotes composers of diverse backgrounds, and also acknowledges modern musical trends. He has performed with his students at the Kaufman Center’s Merkin Hall, the Ford Foundation Building, and Roulette.

For six years, Blair served as the Music Director and Conductor of the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra in Takoma Park, M.D. During his tenure, Blair led several initiatives aimed at expanding the orchestra’s repertoire and building its membership. He successfully increased its number of concerts per season, and diversified the programming with works by women and composers of color. The orchestra, its audience, and its donor base grew in kind. He was responsible for the partnership with Sligo Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Takoma Park, MD, where the orchestra now rehearses and performs. The COVID-19 Pandemic and the accompanying racial unrest of the time provided the Montgomery Symphony and its members an opportunity to reflect on the necessity of artists to offer cultural commentary. During the orchestra’s performing hiatus, Blair wrote a series of lectures that introduced non-European composers to the orchestra’s members and expanded their knowledge of the canon composers. Inspired by William Grant Still’s family motto, “Lifting as we climb,” Blair saw fit to feature the annual concerto competition winners during a Juneteenth celebration of Black music. It was a successful part of the ensemble’s 75th Anniversary Season and continues to be a tradition of the organization.

A fervent supporter of contemporary music, Blair served as the Assistant Artistic Director of the Great Noise Ensemble (Washington, D.C.) for three seasons. He conducted performances of the music of Dr. Armando Bayolo - the ensemble’s Artistic Director - curated alongside influential works by composers like Louis Andriessen, Frederic Rzewski, Julius Eastman, David Lang, Marc Mellits, and Martin Bresnick, among several premieres and performances by younger composers. He has also been asked to guest conduct Ensemble Dal Niente (Chicago, IL) during their Columbia College Composer’s Residency, and Third Practice (Washington, D.C.) for their performance of Salvatore Sciarrino’s *12 Madrigali*. He was also asked to conduct the second performance of *a breath upward* by composer - Michael Hersh, with soprano - Ah Young Hong, at the Baltimore War Memorial, with the composer’s brother, Jamie Hersch, on horn, Ensemble intercontemporain violist, John Stultz, and clarinetist, Gleb Kanasevich.

In 2015, Blair was invited to take part in the Peninsula Music Festival (Door County, WI) as the only conductor in their Emerging Conductor Program by his teacher from Northwestern University, Victor Yampolsy - the Festival’s Artistic Director. As the Assistant Conductor of the Peninsula Music Festival Orchestra, Blair shadowed Maestro Yampolsky and guest conductors in rehearsal, appeared twice in performance with the orchestra as a conductor and once as a percussionist, and assisted the festival with pre-concert lectures and promotional events.

He was the Assistant Conductor of the Hopkins Symphony Orchestra (Baltimore, MD) and Conductor of the Hopkins Concert Orchestra, under the mentorship of Dr. Jed Gaylin. His contract was extended twice in order to continue a positive trend of growth in the Concert Orchestra. Their repertoire blended traditional and modern music, they commissioned new works, and engaged student and local soloists. He also served as the Resident Conductor of the Prince George’s Philharmonic (Bowie, MD), a title he was given upon the sudden loss of his mentor and their Music Director, Dr. Charles Ellis. Having served as Maestro Ellis’ Assistant Conductor at the Philharmonic for several years, Blair conducted the majority of the concerts that remained during the orchestra’s 50th Anniversary Season, which culminated in a performance of Mahler’s Second Symphony “Resurrection” with the Heritage Signature Chorale and the Chesapeake Chorale.

Equally at home in the pit - Blair enjoys the elaborate collaborations that bring opera, ballet, and musical theater to life on the stage. During his studies at the Peabody Conservatory (Baltimore, MD), he was the Assistant Conductor and Chorus Master for the productions of Stravinsky’s *The Rake’s Progress*, directed by Garnett Bruce, and Massenet’s Manon, directed by Roger Brunyate. He also served as conductor for productions of Bernstein’s *Trouble in Tahiti* and Argento’s *Postcard from Morocco* with Peabody Chamber Opera, and conducted a special performance of Poulenc’s monodrama, *La Voix Humaine*, performed by soprano, Melissa Wimbish. He served as Resident Conductor of Baltimore Figaro Project - an opera company dedicated to new opera and reimagined stagings of traditional opera. He was the Music Director for the Figaro Project’s productions of Mozart’s *Le Nozze di Figaro* and *Don Giovanni*, and the premiere of Joshua Bornfield’s *Camelot Requiem*, an opera written for the 50th Anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He has also been the guest Music Director for productions of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Phantom of the Opera and Sunset Boulevard with Opera AACC (Arnold, MD). He was the Assistant Conductor for Baltimore Lyric Opera’s production of *Le Nozze di Figaro*, Cover Conductor for Washington Opera Society’s production of Rossini’s *La Cenerentolla*, and concertmaster for Bizet’s *Carmen* with the same company.

In addition to his conducting studies at Peabody with Gustav Meier and Markand Thakar, Blair was a Cover Conductor, assisting Mario Venzago with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Leon Fleisher, Ken Lam, and Teri Murai with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra. While preparing the Peabody Symphony Orchestra for a residency with James DePriest, Blair was first called to step in for the ailing maestro’s early rehearsals, and was eventually invited to lead the orchestra in a performance of Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony to wild ovations.

He has participated in further conducting studies with Stefan Asbury at the Tanglewood Conducting Workshop (Lenox, MA), Michael Jinbo at the Pierre Monteux School (Hancock, ME), Pinchas Zukerman and Kenneth Kiesler at the National Arts Centre with the National Arts Centre Orchestra and L’orchestre de la francophonie (Ottawa, ON), Gustav Meier and the Orquesta de Camera Chihuahua at the International Conducting Workshop and Festival 2009 (Chihuahua, Mexico), John Nelson and members of the Wheaton College Symphony Orchestra (Wheaton, IL), and with Paul Vermel at his home in Niles, IL.

Upon completing his doctoral coursework at the Peabody Conservatory, he founded Charm City Collegium (Baltimore, MD), which for a brief period, offered concerts free of admission, in partnership with local charities including Healthcare for the Homeless, World Relief, and the Maryland Food Bank. Charm City Collegium initially embarked on a project targeting a Beethoven Symphony cycle, and then also partnered with hexaCollective (Baltimore, MD), a vocal troupe under the artistic direction of Sonya Knussen, during the Benjamin Britten Centenary for performances of *The Rape of Lucretia* and *Albert Herring*. They were featured events at the Baltimore Book Festival and the Mt. Vernon Flower Mart. Their last appearance together was a performance of Monteverdi’s *Vespro della Beata Vergine* in 2018. Skinner led from the first violin stand - returning to his roots as a violinist in his first entrepreneurial venture in Wheaton, IL, known as Canticum Novum - a Baroque ensemble who performed on modern instruments, and collaborated with Wheaton College faculty and ensembles, including the Wheaton College Concert Choir’s own performances of the Monteverdi, as well as their performances of Bach’s *St. John Passion*, *Magnificat*, and other works. He frequently served as concertmaster of the Wheaton College Symphony Orchestra during his undergraduate studies, and on two occasions worked closely with Opera and Choral conducting aficionado, John Nelson - once as his concertmaster for the Berlioz *Requiem*, and also as the assistant concertmaster for Handel’s *Messiah*, alongside his primary teacher, Dr. Lee Joiner. Blair would later have the honor of guest conducting the Chicago Chamber Orchestra in their annual Messiah Sing-Along at Second Presbyterian Church, and drew on his recent experience with Maestro Nelson to prepare.

Blair also studied violin and chamber music with Victor Yampolsky while he was in his conducting studio at Northwestern University, and with Sharon Polifrone, the assistant concertmaster of the Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra, and Paul Zafer, concertmaster of the Chicago Sinfonietta. Further chamber music studies with Elizabeth Buccheri, Peter Slowik, and The Hugo Wolf Quartet.

As time has allowed - he has been involved in a handful of chamber music and modern music ventures in Baltimore. He was for a time working with an ensemble known as the *Creative Commons Quartet* as an arranger, violinist, violist, and mandolin player. He was the second violinist in Baltimore’s Druid Hill String Quartet, and would also be a frequent guest with Baltimore’s Classical Revolution - an organization that brings Classical music into unlikely spaces. The affiliation led to further collaborations with sound art duo Wendel Patrick and Eric Spangler, who hosted The Baltimore Boom Bap Society - improvised hip-hop with random assortments of emcees, instrumentalists, vocalists, and other musicians. Most recently, Blair has appeared as violinist in the Astronaut Symphony (Baltimore, MD), a chamber ensemble that performs in an act with composer/keyboardist/vocalist/conductor, Scott Patterson - appearing as Kojo Astronaut - performing excerpts from his Afrofuturist/sci-fi/opera/ballet - a creation of Afro House, an organization founded by the composer and his wife, Alisha Patterson.

Blair had the rare gift of being able to study with one violin teacher, Nancy Steffa, from age six until he graduated from high school. Her dedication inspired his personal commitment to sound pedagogy in the rehearsal space, classroom, and as a private instructor. He currently teaches Orchestra and Viola at WHIN Music Community Charter School, a full-time, K-8 public charter in the heart of Washington Heights designed after the principals of El Sistema in Venezuela. While living in Maryland, he worked as a Teaching Artist and administrator for arts programs in the Baltimore City Public Schools with the Baltimore Symphony OrchKids and Baltimore Bridges Programs, at private schools in Anne Arundel County, and is frequently called as a guest clinician for string orchestras in the Howard County (Maryland) Public Schools. He has been a substitute conductor for the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Chesapeake Youth Symphony Orchestra. He has taught string ensemble/orchestra, band, choir, music theory, and both private and group violin and viola lessons. He has also worked in churches and synagogues as a cantor, chorister, instrumental musician, and choir director in every region he has lived - except for his birthplace of Houston, TX.

Blair lives in the New York Metro Area with his wife, Courtney, their children, Eden and Eila, and their cat, Leo.