Kyle Adam Blair

Performance

k1blair@ucsd.edu

Website

Lyricism, complexity, and dissonance characterize the musical interests of pianist Kyle Adam Blair. A contemporary music specialist, his major pianistic focuses include the performance of new works in collaboration with composers, and the performance of works from the American art music repertory of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, particularly music of Elliott Carter, Aaron Copland, George Crumb, and Stuart Saunders Smith.

Blair’s solo piano debut album Palm Sunday can be heard on New World Records, and he has performed and produced for releases from Bridge Records, Edgetone Records, and more. Other released titles include Pós-Tudos – 12 Études for Piano Solo by Bruno Ruviaro (2017), No One Is Trying to Kill You, Sweetheart with percussionist Chris Golinski (Minderbinder, 2013), and WILD WOMEN with guitarist Boaz Roberts (2019).

A well-traveled performer, he has shared the stage with Bang-On-A-Can All-Stars, the Mark Morris Dance Group, and members of Eighth Blackbird. Blair received acclaim for his performance of Carlos Chavez’s Piano Concerto with the La Jolla Symphony in 2022, and is currently refining a solo program including works by Brian Ferneyhough, Michael Finnissy, and Alex Taylor.

Blair’s curiosities regarding song and theatre spark frequent collaborations with actors, singers, and dancers. Most recently, he has worked closely with Grammy-winning soprano Susan Narucki and the kallisti vocal ensemble as the repetiteur and vocal coach for premieres of contemporary operas, most notably Lei Liang’s Inheritance and Stephen Lewis’s Noon at Dusk. He also performed as “Muse” and composed music for Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare’s two-person An Iliad with actor Danielle Wineman.

In addition to teaching undergraduate pianists at UC San Diego, Blair currently holds additional appointments as the Staff Pianist/Accompanist for the Department of Music, and as a Lecturer/Vocal Coach for the Department of Theatre & Dance.

He received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Contemporary Music Performance from the University of California, San Diego in 2018 under the mentorship of Aleck Karis.