Nicholas Frances Chase (born Nebeil Mahayni; 1966 in Roseburg, Oregon) is an American composer and

performer The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perfor ...

. Chase received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

in German Area Studies from

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

in 1993 and studied music composition at the

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

(CalArts) with

Stephen Mosko Stephen L. (Lucky) Mosko ( - ) was an American composer. His music blended high modernism (including serialism) with world music, and he was an expert in Icelandic folk music. His, "seemingly contradictory," influences include uptown, downtown, a ...

Morton Subotnick Morton Subotnick (born April 14, 1933) is an American composer of electronic music, best known for his 1967 composition '' Silver Apples of the Moon'', the first electronic work commissioned by a record company, Nonesuch. He was one of the foun ...

, Bunita Marcus, and Mary Jane Leach, receiving his Master of Fine Arts in 2000. At CalArts he studied

Hindustani Classical Music Hindustani classical music is the classical music of northern regions of the Indian subcontinent. It may also be called North Indian classical music or, in Hindustani, ''shastriya sangeet'' (). It is played in instruments like the violin, si ...

with Rajeev Taranath and

Arabic Classical Music Arabic music or Arab music ( ar, الموسيقى العربية, al-mūsīqā al-ʿArabīyyah) is the music of the Arab world with all its diverse music styles and genres. Arabic countries have many rich and varied styles of music and also many ...

with Dr. Ziad Bunni. His compositional style references popular music forms such as

techno Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

, electronica, ambient, and noise music, and frequently integrates interactive

signal processing Signal processing is an electrical engineering subfield that focuses on analyzing, modifying and synthesizing ''signals'', such as sound, images, and scientific measurements. Signal processing techniques are used to optimize transmissions, ...

and electronic sound material with acoustic instrumentation. He has written original music for various ensembles including the California EAR Unit, the

Long Beach Opera Long Beach Opera is a Southern California opera company serving the greater Los Angeles and Orange County metroplex. Founded in 1979, it is the oldest continually running opera company in the L.A. area. Though small in size, the company has surveye ...

, and the Philadelphia Classical Symphony.

Performances

Chase performs using a laptop and DJ turntables and is known to integrate video projection into performances. In 2008 he began performing his own compositions for solo piano, giving concerts in Europe and the US.

Visual work

Chase has directed short films, usually with a strong musical element. In 2008 he created video projections for an event affiliated with the

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition ...

. His musical scores are known for their graphical presentation and have been recognized as works of visual art.

Awards

In 2000, the same year he received his M.F.A., Chase was awarded CalArts' President's Alumni Achievement Award. He was nominated for the Alpert Award in Music in 2003. In 2011 Chase received a Composer Fellowship from Other Minds Festival in San Francisco, the inaugural year of the Composer Fellow program.

Works

*e1>3ktr=Δ (Opera, 2000) *Sp!t (2000) *Tw!tch (2000) *Rugosa Rose (2001) *OPUS (2002) *22 (Opera, 2003) *Woad for Indigo (2004) *11 Ideas (Film, 2005) *Seventh Sense (2005) *Ouistitis (2007) *Considering Light (2008) *Ngoma Lungdundu (Voice That Thunders) (2008) *Songs of the Thirsty Sword (2008) *Blue Sky Over Buchenwald (Sound Track, 2008) *Street Mix No. 1 (2010) *Gin Blossoms & Broccoli Boutonnières (2011) *Solifuge (2011) *Bone Totem Dog (2011) *Des (2011) *Bhajan (2012) *Voluptuous (2012) *Bone Strung (2012) *Saida (2013) *Gapayati (2014)

Partial discography

*''Songs About Edgar Allan Poe'' (Bright Green Records, USA 1995) *''Collaborations'' (DVD, STV/Unit Records, Switzerland 2006) *''Bhajan'' (Cold Blue Music, USA 2017)

References

External links

Official websiteNicholas Chase Biography at the American Music Center website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chase, Nicholas Frances Living people 21st-century classical composers American electronic musicians Electroacoustic music composers Avant-garde keyboardists American contemporary classical composers People from Roseburg, Oregon University of Oregon alumni California Institute of the Arts alumni 1966 births 21st-century American musicians Male classical composers 21st-century American male musicians