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UAF photo by Leif Van Cise.
Sean Dowgray conducts John Luther Adams’ "Dark Wind" with Dario Martin (piano), April Jaille (bass clarinet) and UAF students Madelyn Guffey (marimba) and Jack Greenwell (vibraphone) at the Circumpolar Music Series Winter Chamber Concert on Feb. 21, 2025.

By Sarah Manriquez

The strings of the Celtic harp resonated as Beth Kollé’s fingers moved with practiced ease, each pluck unfolding the magical resonance of Scandinavian folk melodies.

Kollé — an internationally renowned harper known for bringing Nordic traditions to new audiences — wove music that felt like an audible landscape. Tales of frost-rimmed fjords, coastal winds and ancestral song filled the Davis Concert Hall during the March 2024 performance.

When a note plucked in Fairbanks echoes across the Arctic, it carries more than melody — it carries connection. That’s the magic of the Circumpolar Music Series, a University of ������AV initiative that brings artists, scholars and musicians from across the Arctic and sub-Arctic to perform, teach and collaborate.

For Catherine Madsen — a writer and musician who helped establish the series — it’s both a gift and a homecoming.

Madsen first arrived in Fairbanks in 1962 as a 10-year-old who spent long hours on snowy trails, learning the contours of solitude.

“For the first time, I had a sense that the world was alive and waiting for me to notice it,” she recalled during an online interview from Michigan in August 2025. “Alaska makes its people rise to an occasion; it makes them want to be worthy of it. Fairbanks was where I found out I had a soul.”

While her family left after three years, the pull of Alaska never let go. She kept looking for a way to belong to Fairbanks in real time — not just as a visitor but as someone contributing to its creative life.

A generous vision

For Madsen, the Circumpolar Music Series is more than a concert series. It’s an open invitation to explore and support the music of the North, and a reminder that music is one of the most powerful ways to belong — no matter the distance or the years.

That spirit of belonging shaped not only the vision for the series, but also how Madsen chose to make it possible, working directly with the UAF Department of Music to create a gift that would fund the series in a flexible way.

According to College of Liberal Arts interim Dean Carrie Baker, Madsen’s generosity is tailored to a specific creative vision.

“It’s given the Department of Music the ability to bring in world-class artists, create meaningful collaborations and build something that will keep growing,” Baker said. “Catherine’s generosity didn’t just fund concerts; it created a space for exchange, learning and inspiration.”

In just two seasons with funding from the Catherine Madsen Circumpolar Ethnomusicology Support Fund, UAF has brought more than 20 performances and workshops to Fairbanks, drawing artists and audiences from across the circumpolar North and creating connections that extend well beyond the stage. The series has featured the Alaska premiere of contemporary chamber works by Indigenous composers, a workshop on Inupiat drum-making, Kolle’s traditional Scandinavian harp performance and climate-inspired works by several composers. 

The 2024-2025  season featured events with Wild Shore New Music, ethnomusicologist and violinist Heidi Senungetuk, the Inu-Yupiaq Dancers and artist Brian Walker II, alongside unique collaborations among musicians, poets and scientists. These have created unique moments that stay with audiences long after the final note fades.

The 2025-2026 season opened in late August with the Craig Coray Portrait Concert as part of the Music & More Concert Series at First United Methodist Church in Fairbanks. The evening featured Coray’s piano solo “Silam Inua” (Sky Spirit), a work of eight movements composed in 1992.

“The Iñupiat title represents the spirit that governs all things above the Earth; the sky, weather, and universe,” he said.

Madsen credits her vision for the Circumpolar Music Series to the late Judith Kleinfeld — educator, researcher and founding director of UAF’s Arctic and Northern studies program. Kleinfeld, who passed away in May 2025, left a legacy that shaped Alaska policy and explored how the frontier fosters creativity and resilience. Kleinfeld’s book, “Finding Your Own Frontier,” profiles people who came to Alaska and built something new simply because no one was there to stop them.

Madsen recalled reading about figures like Lee Salisbury, who left New York City and helped launch UAF’s theater program and the KUAC FM radio station. She said she recognizes the same entrepreneurial spirit in her own work.

“I still think of Alaska as a place where, if you want to do something, you go ahead and do it,” she said.

Madsen was born in Detroit and grew up there, except for the three years her family spent in Fairbanks between 1962 and 1965. Her father, an assistant professor in UAF’s English Department, had first come to Alaska after serving on Adak during World War II and returned on a one-year contract that stretched into three because the family loved Fairbanks. Ultimately, family responsibilities drew them back to Detroit. 

Over the years, Madsen returned often to Fairbanks, maintaining close friendships and ties to the university that had been central to her family’s cultural life. After a career that included nearly two decades as bibliographer at the Yiddish Book Center and a long record of publishing and editing, she now lives in Olivet, Michigan. She recently became a certified music practitioner and plays harp music in a local hospital.

An authentic home rooted in Fairbanks

At the heart of the Circumpolar Music Series are the people of the UAF Department of Music, who help transform Madsen’s vision into a living, evolving program.

Jaunelle Celaire, department chair and professor of voice, said the series has become an essential pillar of the department’s identity.

“With our degree programs being a Western focus music program, I have been really enjoying the Arctic music perspective that this program brings to the table,” Celaire said. “It has been a joy and an experience to see how the Arctic inspires music, composition, performance and research in this field.”

The UAF Music Department has long been known for producing accomplished performers, composers and educators, but CMS extends that legacy by embedding students directly in the musical life of the circumpolar North. That Arctic focus doesn’t just shape the repertoire; it shapes students. CMS gives them opportunities to perform alongside visiting artists as part of their degree program and to experience music that connects to the place they live.

“CMS brings us all a little bit closer to our home and roots,” Celaire said. “It is authentic to life here in the great North.”

That authenticity, she added, resonates far beyond the walls of the Davis Concert Hall, fostering a deeper understanding of the region’s cultures and stories.

“[CMS]...is a beautiful way to educate our citizens about the Arctic through the passion of music,” she said.

Sean Dowgray, CMS faculty organizer and term assistant professor of percussion, has championed the idea that UAF’s location in the far North is not a limitation but a creative advantage.

“Before I met Catherine, I expressed frequently that a point of strength for the UAF Department of Music is to embrace where it is geographically,” he said.

When he heard Madsen’s ideas, Dowgray recognized a shared vision to build something that could exist only here — a series that gives students “ideas and experiences that you can’t get in any other music program.”

In just three years, CMS has transformed the Davis Concert Hall into a gathering place for artists from across the Arctic and beyond — from the Pavva Inupiaq Dancers and UAF’s own Troth Yeddha’ Dance Group to Nordic folk music with Kollé, the harpist. Visiting ensembles like Wild Shore New Music have brought contemporary works accompanied by poetry and prose.

For music majors, these encounters sharpen skills in collaboration — “a word we use a lot but takes quite a lot of practice,” Dowgray said.  For nonmajors and community members, the events offer an open door into Alaska’s musical heritage.

Celaire sees the access CMS provides — bringing Arctic music into classrooms, concert halls and community spaces — not just as an artistic choice but as part of UAF’s responsibility. She believes the series is as much about preservation as it is about performance, ensuring that the cultural knowledge embedded in Arctic music continues to inspire future generations.

“It is our duty and responsibility to keep our history alive for our upcoming music educators and performers,” she said. “Without knowledge of the inspiration of production, through music and composition, we will lose the history and forefront of this music moving forward.”

Baker, the interim dean, said CMS has positioned UAF as a leader in circumpolar-focused arts education.

“The series reflects the best of who we are as a college, rooted in the North, outward-looking, and deeply committed to connecting people through creativity,” she said.

Expanding the connection

Looking ahead, Dowgray sees CMS evolving from a series of singular performances into a landmark event — one that brings together artists, scholars, and community members from across the circumpolar North. 

“A conference,” he said without hesitation. “Our events the past two years have mainly featured one artist at a time or a small group. To have a large representative body from various  circumpolar regions and creative practices on our campus would be very special.”

Madsen shares that sense of possibility. For her, the future of CMS lies in deepening its role as a platform for collaboration — not just between performers and audiences but between cultures, generations and disciplines. She hopes to see the series spark more partnerships across Alaska and the Arctic, each building on the other to keep the music and stories of the region alive.

She said the true power of giving lies not in its size, but in its purpose.

“You don't have to have heaps of money to do something interesting,” she said. “And it's not only your money that helps, it's your imagination. UAF is in such a unique position that there are many opportunities just waiting to be discovered. You're not only supporting the people, the ideas, and the traditions that make this place what it is; you're also expanding the range of what it can do.”

 

Sarah Manriquez is the UAF College of Liberal Arts' public information officer.