Claire Chase (born 1978) is a soloist, collaborative artist, curator and advocate for new and experimental music. Chase has won the Avery Fisher Prize, which recognizes musical excellence, vision, and leadership. In 2012, Chase was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship—the so-called "genius" award.
Early life and education
Chase was born in 1978 and grew up in
Leucadia, California
Leucadia is a beach community located in the coastal city of Encinitas, California. Leucadia is known for the relatively secluded beaches in Southern California surf culture.
History
The name Leucadia is of Greek origin as its namesake, Lefkada ...
. She made her solo debut with the
San Diego Symphony
The San Diego Symphony is an American symphony orchestra, based in San Diego, California. The orchestra is resident at Copley Symphony Hall. The orchestra also serves as the orchestra for the San Diego Opera.
History
On December 6th 1910, the ...
at age 14 in 1992.
While attending
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...
, where she studied with Michel Debost, she received the
Theodore Presser
The Theodore Presser Company is an American music publishing and distribution company located in Malvern, Pennsylvania, formerly King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, and originally based in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. It is the oldest continuing music publ ...
Concert Artists Guild The Concert Artists Guild is an American musical institution, based in New York City and established in 1951. It is dedicated to discovering and nurturing musical talent, and helping musicians start careers. It provides scholarships and grants, and ...
International Contemporary Ensemble
The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) is a contemporary classical music ensemble, based in New York City and Chicago. ICE performs a diverse and extensive array of chamber, electro-acoustic, improvisatory, and multimedia works.
History
...
(ICE) in 2001, and was its Executive/Artistic Director until 2017. ICE established musical innovation as central to the recipe not only for cultural survival, but also for popular success, with its flexible entrepreneurial structure and inclusive educational mission. Chase recently stepped down from the leadership of ICE to focus on her performing career and to make way for other long-term projects, including “Density 2036.”
After winning first prize in the
Concert Artists Guild The Concert Artists Guild is an American musical institution, based in New York City and established in 1951. It is dedicated to discovering and nurturing musical talent, and helping musicians start careers. It provides scholarships and grants, and ...
competition in 2008, she made her
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
debut in 2010 at the Weill Recital Hall.
So far, Chase has premiered over 100 new solo works for the flute, incorporating extended techniques and electro-acoustic elements. Her first solo album, ''Aliento'' was released in 2009 and was one of ''Time Out Chicago'''s Top 10 Classical Albums of 2009. Chase has performed world-wide as a soloist and chamber musician in diverse venues including
(Le) Poisson Rouge
(Le) Poisson Rouge (often referred to as LPR) is a music venue and multimedia art cabaret in New York City founded in 2008 by Justin Kantor and David Handler on the former site of the Village Gate at 158 Bleecker Street. The performance space was ...
,
Miller Theatre
Miller Theatre at Columbia University is located on the Morningside Heights campus of Columbia University. It is a performing arts producer dedicated to developing and presenting new music.
In 1988, the former McMillin Theater was renovated an ...
, and
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...
in New York City, the
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...
in Washington D.C., the
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts, which houses significant examples of European, Asian, and American art. Its collection includes paintings, sculpture, tapestries, and decorative arts. It was founded ...
in Boston, the
Sibelius Academy
The Sibelius Academy ( fi, Taideyliopiston Sibelius-Akatemia, sv, Sibelius-Akademin vid Konstuniversitetet) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It als ...
in Helsinki, the
Palacio de Bellas Artes
The Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) is a prominent cultural center in Mexico City. It has hosted notable events in music, dance, theatre, opera and literature in Mexico and has held important exhibitions of painting, sculpture and p ...
in Mexico City, and other venues throughout Europe.
Over the past decade Claire Chase has given the world premieres of hundreds of new works for the flute in performances throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia, and she has championed new music throughout the world by building organizations, forming alliances, pioneering commissioning initiatives, and supporting educational programs that reach new audiences.
She began "Density 2036" in 2014, a 22-year project to commission a significant body of new music for the flute, culminating in the one-hundredth anniversary of
Edgard Varèse
Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse (; also spelled Edgar; December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965) was a French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States. Varèse's music emphasizes timbre and rhythm; he coined ...
's "
Density 21.5
''Density 21.5'' is a composition for solo Western concert flute, flute written by Edgard Varèse in 1936 and revised in 1946. The piece was composed at the request of Georges Barrère for the premiere of his platinum flute, the density of platinu ...
" of 1936. She is also working on ''Pan,'' a new 90-minute work for solo flutist, live electronics, and a large ensemble of players from the community in which it is performed.
Beginning in the fall of 2017 Chase has been appointed as Professor of the Practice in the Music Department at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
.
Chase will hold the 2022–23 Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair at
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
.
Discography
*''Density 2036: parts v 2017-2018'' (2020, Corbett vs. Dempsey Records)
*''Density 2036: parts iv 2016'' (2020, Corbett vs. Dempsey Records)
*''Density 2036: parts iii 2015'' (2020, Corbett vs. Dempsey Records)
*''Density 2036: parts i & ii 2013-2104'' (2020, Corbett vs. Dempsey Records)
*''Density'' (2013, New Focus Recordings)
*''Terrestre'' (2012, New Focus Recordings)
*''Died in the Wool'' (2011,
Samadhi Sound
Samadhi Sound (or samadhisound) is an independent record label founded by singer and musician David Sylvian after his departure from Virgin Records in the late nineties.
The label mainly serves as a platform for Sylvian to release his own wor ...
)
*''Bright and Hollow Sky'' (2011, New Focus Recordings)
*''Undersong'' (2011,
Mode Records
Mode Records is an American record label in New York City that concentrates on contemporary classical music and other forms of avant-garde music. The label was founded by Brian Brandt in 1984, with a goal of releasing music composed by John Cage ...
)
*''Aliento'' (2009, New Focus Recordings)
*''Enter Houses Of'' (2009,
Tzadik Records
Tzadik Records is a record label in New York City that specializes in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995. He is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases. Tzadik is a n ...
)
*''Complete Crumb Edition, Vol. 12'' (2008,
Bridge Records
Bridge Records is an independent record label that specializes in classical music located in New Rochelle, New York.
History
A classical guitarist, David Starobin recorded the Boccherini Guitar Quintet in E minor in the 1970s. This was his first ...
)
With
John Zorn
John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". Zorn's avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of jaz ...
*''
On the Torment of Saints, the Casting of Spells and the Evocation of Spirits
''On the Torment of Saints, the Casting of Spells and the Evocation of Spirits'' is an album of contemporary classical music by John Zorn, written in 2012, recorded in New York City in March & July 2013, and released on the Tzadik label in Novemb ...
'' (Tzadik, 2013)
*''
Fragmentations, Prayers and Interjections
''Fragmentations, Prayers and Interjections'' is an album composed by John Zorn and featuring the Arcana Orchestra which was recorded in New York City in 2013 and released on the Tzadik label in March 2014.
'' (Tzadik, 2014)
Awards
*2017
Avery Fisher Prize
The Avery Fisher Prize is an award given to American musicians for outstanding achievement in classical music. Founded by philanthropist Avery Fisher in 1974, it is regarded as one of the most significant awards for American instrumentalists. Th ...
*2012
MacArthur Fellowship
The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to ...
Concert Artists Guild The Concert Artists Guild is an American musical institution, based in New York City and established in 1951. It is dedicated to discovering and nurturing musical talent, and helping musicians start careers. It provides scholarships and grants, and ...
Competition
*2001 First Prize National Young Artist Competition
*1999
Theodore Presser
The Theodore Presser Company is an American music publishing and distribution company located in Malvern, Pennsylvania, formerly King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, and originally based in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. It is the oldest continuing music publ ...
National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts
YoungArts (previously National YoungArts Foundation and National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, or NFAA) is an American charity established in 1981 by Lin and Ted Arison to help nurture emerging high-school artists. The foundation is bas ...
International Contemporary Ensemble
The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) is a contemporary classical music ensemble, based in New York City and Chicago. ICE performs a diverse and extensive array of chamber, electro-acoustic, improvisatory, and multimedia works.
History
...