Claire Chase, flute

First Prize Winner, 2008 Concert Artists Guild Competition

www.clairechase.net

Declared “dynamic” and “indefatigable” by Time Out New York, flutist Claire Chase is First Prize Winner of the 2008 Concert Artists Guild Competition.  A passionate performer, leader and innovator, she creatively links traditional, contemporary and experimental music with program choices that range from Bach and Brahms to Boulez, Saariaho, Zorn and beyond.

During 2009-10, Ms. Chase’s varied performance calendar includes recital debut performances in New York at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall (on the CAG Winners Series) and at La Poisson Rouge, as well as recitals for Market Square Concerts, The Regina Quick Center at St. Bonaventure University and the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute.  Chamber music projects include the Laguna Beach Chamber Music Festival, where she collaborates with the Claremont Trio and CAG alumnae Maria Bachman and Jon Klibonoff, as well as numerous Duo performances in the northeast with harpist Bridget Kibbey.

Her recent itinerary took her coast to coast to some of the most important US venues: The Kennedy Center in DC, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, New York City’s Miller Theatre, Chicago’s Contemporary Museum of Art, Boston’s Gardner Museum, and internationally to the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, El Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City and venues in Berlin, Frankfurt and Barcelona.

As a concerto soloist, Ms. Chase has performed with the San Diego Symphony, the La Jolla Symphony, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Mineria, and the International Chamber Orchestra.  She also took top prizes at the National Young Artist Competition and the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts Competition and was a featured soloist at the 2005 National Flute Association Convention, performing the world premiere of a new flute concerto by Harvey Sollberger.  Additionally, she recently gave the US Premiere of Ivan Fedele’s flute concerto Profilio en eco with the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble.   

Ms. Chase is credited with world premiere performances of over 100 solo works for the flute and has produced eight large-scale contemporary music festivals in New York and Chicago, playing more than 200 concerts of new music in those cities. In 2001, she founded the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), which is described as “one of the most adventurous and accomplished groups in new music” (The New York Times) and “a powerhouse of new-music programming…brilliant and unexpected” (The New Yorker).  She has served as executive director of ICE since its inception and is a frequent performer with the ensemble.

Her debut solo album, aliento, featuring world premiere recordings for flute and electronics, was released in October 2009 (New Focus Recordings) to instant acclaim: Chicago Reader declared “The entire album is a knockout.” Her extensive chamber music discography includes recordings with various groups for the Tzadik, Bridge and Naxos labels. Ms. Chase is featured on a Fall 2008 release of the music of George Crumb, part of Bridge Records’ Complete Crumb Edition, recorded in close collaboration with the composer.

As a chamber musician, Ms. Chase has been heard at Festival Nova Helsinki (Finland) and the International Festival of Contemporary Music in Michoacán (Mexico), and in the US at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, the MusicNOW series at Symphony Center with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, with the Élan Trio as a first prizewinner at the Coleman National Chamber Music Competition and on live radio broadcasts at WNYC (New York), WFMT and WBEZ (Chicago) and KUSC (Los Angeles).

A sought-after lecturer, teacher and chamber music coach, Claire Chase has given lectures and master classes recently at Smith College, CalArts and Oberlin Conservatory, from which she received a B.M. in 2001 in the studio of Michel Debost.  She made her concerto debut at age 14 with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra and at age 17 was named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts by the White House Department of Education.  Other notable awards include the Theodore Presser Foundation, ASCAP, Chamber Music America and the MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.