Trevor Adams, violin
Trevor Adams is an Alaskan composer, violist, and music educator, whose style of w
riting ranges from eclectic and rhythmically driven to intensely introspective. He
has an affinity for creating narrative in music and his work has been described as
“visual in nature”. Trevor pulls inspiration from astronomy, physics, mythology, the
environment, his Iñupiaq heritage, and his intrapersonal experience. Some stylistic
influences include film and video game music, minimalism, Iñupiaq drumming and dancing,
musical theater, rock, and indie music among others. Trevor earned his B.M. in Music
Education and B.A. in Music Composition from the ҹɫ (UAF)
where he studied composition with Dr. William Post and viola with both Dr. Kathleen
Butler-Hopkins and Dr. Bryan Hall. As a composer, Trevor has given three recitals
(2015, 2017, and 2022), scored several short films, and collaborated on arts/science
presentations for the American Geophysical Union Fall Meetings. Recently, Trevor collaborated
with Iñupiaq artists on three separate multimedia compositions premiered this year.
Uvlaalluataq is a stop motion cartoon that teaches the Iñupiaq language, Ripples is an electroacoustic work that captures place based experience over time in Nome,
Alaska, and Aana combines interview audio, projected imagery, electroacoustics, and live performer
to depict Iñupiaq life in Kotzebue, Alaska in the Early 1900’s. As a performer, Trevor
has played in a wide variety of ensembles including both the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra
and Northern Lights String Orchestra as principal violist, multiple pit orchestras
including Les Miserables with Fairbanks Light Opera Theater and Tosca with Opera Fairbanks. From 2014 – 2018, Trevor was the violist for the Nanook String
Quartet, performing varied repertoire including Ravel’s String Quartet and Shostakovich’s
Piano Quintet. As an educator, Trevor has taught all ages in the public schools. From
2015 – 2019, Trevor was both the orchestra director at West Valley High School and
the band, orchestra, and general music teacher at Two Rivers K-8 School. Aside from
public school teaching, Trevor has directed adult community orchestras, youth orchestras,
and taught at youth summer music festivals and string chamber music intensives. Currently,
Trevor teaches private lessons and group classes at Musical Chairs Studio in Chicago
and recently finished graduate studies in music composition at Roosevelt University
with Dr. Kyong Mee Choi this spring.