Photo by David Michalek
Claire Chase, flute
Claire Chase is a musician, interdisciplinary artist, and educator. Passionately dedicated to the creation of new ecosystems for the music of our time, Ms. Chase has given the world premieres of hundreds of new works by a new generation of artists. She was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2012, and in 2017 was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize from Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Ms. Chase is the Debs Creative Chair at Carnegie Hall for the 2022–23 season, where she is curating concerts, organizing interactive educational events, and presenting multiple new commissions.
In 2013, Ms. Chase launched the 24-year commissioning project Density 2036. Now in its tenth year, Density 2036 reimagines the solo flute literature over a quarter-century through commissions, performances, recordings, education, and an accessible archive at density2036.org. In May 2023, Ms. Chase performed all ten Density programs to date in a weeklong series of events co-produced by The Kitchen and Carnegie Hall.
As an undergraduate at Oberlin Conservatory, Ms. Chase co-founded the International Contemporary Ensemble, a collective of musicians, digital media artists, producers, and educators committed to creating collaborations built on equity and cultural responsiveness. Under her artistic and executive leadership from 2001–2016, the Ensemble developed an artist-driven organizational model that earned the group the Trailblazer Award from the American Music Center in 2010 and the Ensemble of the Year Award in 2014 from Musical America.
A deeply committed educator, Claire Chase is Professor of the Practice in the Department of Music at Harvard University, where she teaches courses on contemporary music, interdisciplinary collaboration, nonprofit arts organizations, and social justice through the arts. She lives in Brooklyn.