Alumni Stories

Christopher Hull is a percussionist and ethnomusicologist whose work focuses on tensions between tradition and innovation in contemporary music. As a passionate performer of solo, chamber, and orchestral percussion, he seeks to ground his work in his classical training while simultaneously transcending the conventions of the conservatory. With classical percussion degrees from Wilfrid Laurier University and University of Alaska Fairbanks, a performing arts certificate from the Arts Institute of Indonesia Denpasar, and his current doctoral studies in ethnomusicology at the University of Toronto, Christopher’s genre-defying work exhibits a world of experience.

As an orchestral percussionist, he frequently works with the National Academy Orchestra of Canada, the Hamilton and Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestras, and Sinfonia Ancaster. He has appeared as a chamber musician and soloist in festivals such as Open Ears, International Gamelan Festival Munich, Young Artists Niagara, and Sacred Rhythm Jakarta, the Royal Shakespeare Company (UK), and can be heard playing drums, vibraphone, and synthesizer on commercial recordings by Call Me Moon and Treephones. He is Associate Artistic Director of Toronto-based Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan (now celebrating its 40th anniversary season), commissioning and premiering new works for Sundanese degung, and director of the University of Toronto’s Balinese gamelan ensemble, Dharma Santi, as well as the newly formed Clover quartet.

Christopher’s doctoral research explores various aspects of musical manifestations of culture. At the Society for Ethnomusicology Annual Meeting in Ottawa in 2023, he presented a paper entitled Tacit Knowledge, Affect, and Desa Kala Patra in Balinese Gender Wayang, which investigates the affective properties of gendér wayang to show how the oral practice of gendér relies on embodied, emplaced, tacit knowledge. Such knowledge reflects the Balinese concept “desá, kala, patra” — often translated as “place, time, situation” — which references the manifold, plural form knowledge takes when it is viewed within context. By aligning theories of tacit knowledge, affect, and desá, kala, patra, the paper queries the extent to which they are congruent. In doing so, he lays the groundwork to ponder the impact of video sharing as gendér pedagogy and how it serves as a new transmission medium for tacit and affective aspects of practice. That same year, he was also Keynote Speaker at Indonsian-language International Conference on Local Wisdom at Universitas Hindu I Gusti Bagus Sugriwa in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia.

Dr. Emerson Eads, composer, conductor, and singer is Director of Choral Activities at Minot State University. He began piano lessons with his father when he was six years old. He holds music degrees from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and from the University of Notre Dame. While in Fairbanks, he studied composition with John Luther Adams, voice from Dr. Jaunelle Celaire, and conducting from Dr. Eduard Zilberkant. At the University of Notre Dame, he studied choral conducting with Dr. Carmen-Helena Téllez, where he worked with some of the greatest choral conductors of our time including Ann Howard Jones, Stephen Cleobury, and Joseph Flummerfelt.

Opera Fairbanks, at the request of their Metropolitan Opera Artistic Director, Gregory Buchalter, was the first organization to commission him with an ode to Alaska’s 50th celebration of statehood, Homeland, for full orchestra, chorus, and soloists, featuring the great Alaskan mezzo-soprano, Vivica Genaux.

While in Fairbanks, at the request of Dr. Zilberkant, he inaugurated the Fairbanks Symphony Chorus, a volunteer 80-member mixed choir. preparing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, Verdi’s Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, and numerous Design Alaska’s Christmas Concerts. It was with the Fairbanks Symphony that his early compositions were given their premieres.

He was recently commissioned by the University of Alaska Fairbanks and Dr. Jaunelle Celaire to write an accompanied choral work, Give Me Room, on a text by Meta Herrick Carlson, dedicated to philanthropist and UAF alumnus, Steve Holmberg.

Dr. Eads has performed in England, France, Italy, Norway, Bulgaria, Austria, Canada, Chile, and Mexico. His music has also been performed internationally, with recent highlights including the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Ann Arbor, who commissioned him for an accompanied choral work, At The Dawn and his Dona Nobis Pacem which was premiered in Vancouver by the Vancouver Cantata Singers. His Mass for the Oppressed, written to rally support for the Fairbanks Four, has been performed in six states, and has recently been awarded as a Finalist & Honorable Mention for The American Prize Ernst Bacon Memorial Award and is recorded featuring the great British tenor, Barry Banks. The Gleaners, song cycle on a text by Patrick Milian for soprano and mezzo-soprano with piano trio, was awarded Third Place for the American Prize in Composition– Vocal Chamber Music (professional division).

He lives in Minot, ND with his wife, cellist, and conductor, Abbie Eads, and his two cats, Lake & Palmer. He misses Alaska friends and family, especially his two nieces, Adelle & Reaghann. Alaska gave him his first opportunities as a musician and it will always feel like home

Born in White Plains, New York, pianist Mallory Bernstein has built a diverse and robust career through collaborative work, solo performances and nonprofit management. She studied with Dr. Charis Dimaras at Ithaca College and discovered her passion for collaborative piano.  She then journeyed to Fairbanks, Alaska to study with Dr. Eduard Zilberkant for her Master’s degree and with an assistantship to provide accompaniment for the studio of Dr. Jaunelle Celaire.  Mallory continued her studies with a full ride to the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver for a Performance Certificate and Artist Diploma.  She found many performing and teaching opportunities in Denver and in addition to solo performances in Germany, Italy and Portugal, she has performed with the Sonoma Philharmonic, Aurora Symphony, Opera Colorado, The Playground Ensemble and Opera on Tap.  She has been featured on concert series including Devil Moon, Englewood Arts and Five Points Chamber series.  She is a founding member and performs regularly with Art Song Colorado.  In recent years, Mallory has performed with Mexican tenor, Humberto Borboa in Colorado, Arizona and California in recitals featuring Schumann's iconic song cycle, Dichterliebe.

As Mallory began to find accompanying opportunities in outreach settings, she noticed the impact of brief musical experiences on the students.  This prompted her to explore the need for high-quality music education programming in Denver and she subsequently founded Education Through Music-Colorado.  While there is still much work to be done, she is very proud that Education Through Music-Colorado now provides music programming for 2,500 students in the Denver metro area that didn't previously have access. Mallory resides in Denver with her husband, three young daughters and two dogs.

Hailing from interior Alaska, Jon Heintz received his Bachelor’s in Music Education from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2014.  Jon studied double bass with Dr. Karl Knapp, Dr. Vince Cee, and Bob Olsen of the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra. Running parallel with his formative studies was a constant presence in the local music scene. Jon performed with numerous folk, rock, and jazz groups in the city, and participated in music festivals across Alaska.

Jon proudly serves as the orchestra director at Rainier Middle School and Auburn Mountainview High School (IG: @amhs_orchestra) in Auburn, Washington. Jon also keeps busy with a private double bass studio. His students have consistently performed at State Solo and Ensemble and WMEA All-State and NAfME All-Northwest. Former students of his studio are currently performing at the University of North Texas, Eastern Washington University, and the University of Washington.

From Jon: “The UAF Department of Music and the city of Fairbanks gave me the opportunity to experiment, fail, practice, collaborate, and ultimately grow in the best ways imaginable. The chance to perform with passionate musicians throughout the community and to learn from incredible educators shaped (as a wise music ed professor once said) my hobby into a passion, and my passion into a calling.”

Jon’s bass playing can be found recorded on:

Emily Anderson: Salt and Water**

Jazz Underground: Notes from the Underground

Kittiwake: Hibernal**

Granddad: Quitter**

Velvet Jupiter: Velvet Jupiter, EP2

Termination Dust: Growing Down**

**Alaskan artists