How did you react to it?Ĭlaire Chase (CC): My experience with that piece was a before and after moment of my life. It is expected to have its premiere next season in New York.Īsheville Grit (AG): How did you first come to experimental/avant-garde music? You said during your show that you discovered the Varèse piece at age 13. Another upcoming project will be “PAN,” a collaboration with the composer Marcos Balter and the director Doug Fitch based on the Greek god (and early wind-instrument enthusiast). She is in the midst of “Density 2036,” a 22-year project to commission works for her instrument. Chase said in a statement, “I embrace this award as recognition of that cause as a whole and the tremendous work of the new-music community at large.” “As someone who has committed my life’s work to the cause of new and experimental music and to advocating for composers, performers and artist collectives,” Ms.

Chase stepped down from leading the International Contemporary Ensemble, the vital new-music collective commonly known as ICE, to focus more on her performing career. Chase, 38, became the first flutist to receive the Fisher Prize, which is awarded every few years to recognize musical excellence, vision and leadership (and whose payoff was increased this year from $75,000). I see as an award for the work and for the field of change-makers at large I’m just one little worker-ant among them the novelty of new directions has worn off, the new tradition is a consistently evolving art form.”Ĭlaire Chase, who founded the International Contemporary Ensemble, has given the premieres of more than 100 flute works, and was awarded a MacArthur “genius” grant in 2012, received a new accolade on Wednesday: the $100,000 Avery Fisher Prize.

“What we are seeing now is the beginning of a mainstream acknowledgement of what has been happening all along. In many ways, her nomination represents a sharp break from the American classical music pantheon, a position which only adds to her sense of purpose. She now shares this honour with Murray Perahia, Richard Stoltzman, the Emerson String Quartet, and Gil Shaham, to name but a selection from the Prize’s star-studded roster. In April, Chase was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize in recognition of her contributions to classical music performance. She takes us through her artistic philosophy and future plans, touching upon the help she’s received on her journey, one which cuts across the baseball diamond along the way. Between ensuing engagements with the MacArthur Fellows Program, celebrating her 39th birthday during the week, and co-delivering a Composer-Performer workshop at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, Chase found time to write back to us. When Musical Toronto reached out to her for this interview, Chase was in the midst of performances in Japan and Europe. Armed with her concert flute, she is breaking down existing perceptions of classical music at all levels - from developing education programs for schoolkids which contextualize all forms of music, to presenting avant-garde performances halfway across the world, to festival co-artistic directorship at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (more on that later). Everything she plays can feel, at least in the moment, like a musical utterance of the keenest urgency.Ĭlaire Chase is a new music pioneer for our time and beyond.

You could marvel at the musical and theatrical virtuosity that Chase brings to the most arcane and far-flung strains of the contemporary repertoire.Īnd although it’s perfectly predictable that some of these pieces would have proved to be more successful than others - and that we could disagree on which - there was no way to resist the pull of Chase’s enthusiastic advocacy for all of it. You could feel the delight and excitement that inform Chase’s long-range commissioning project “Density 2036,” as she spent nearly six hours (with breaks, naturally) unveiling one new or newish flute piece after another. The difference is that Chase loves to share her goodies with others. No kid on Christmas morning ever unwrapped her presents with more infectious glee than flutist Claire Chase displayed during her mostly solo performance marathon in Berkeley on Saturday, Dec.

Luciform usa guild