HERMITAGE FELLOW RECEIVES AVERY FISHER PRIZE
The Hermitage Artist Retreat is very pleased to announce that Flutist/Composer and Hermitage Fellow Claire Chase has received the 2017 Avery Fisher Prize at Lincoln Center. This prestigious award is part of the Avery Fisher Artist Program. It was established for solo instrumentalists who have demonstrated outstanding achievement and excellence in music. Since 2004, chamber ensembles have also been considered. There is no age limit, but recipients must be U.S. citizens or permanent U.S. residents. A marble plaque in David Geffen Hall (formerly Avery Fisher Hall) at Lincoln Center commemorates all who have received the Prize, which includes a monetary award of $100,000. Among the winners are Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Pianist Andre Watts and Violinist Joshua Bell, Claire Chase is the first flutist to receive the Prize.
“We are so excited for Claire to receive this great honor,” remarked Hermitage Executive Director Bruce E. Rodgers. “This summer we saw her perform at the Ojai Music Festival in California, both at an informal ‘pop-up’ concert in the park and at a staged performance. Her energy is electrifying! Many will remember her as a guest artist at the Hermitage Artful Lobster in 2012. She was dazzling and we’re also thrilled to announce that she will be back for this year’s event, so there will be another chance to enjoy a Claire Chase performance on Nov. 11th.”
Claire Chase describes herself as a soloist, collaborative artist, curator and advocate for new and experimental music. She has given the world premieres of hundreds of new works for the flute in performances throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia, and has championed new music by building organizations, forming alliances, pioneering commissioning initiatives and supporting educational programs that reach new audiences. In addition to the Avery Fisher Prize, she was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2012, and in 2009, she was the Grand Prize Winner of the Concert Artists Guild International Competition. In 2015, Chase was honored with the American Composers Forum Champion of New Music Award.
Claire Chase has released three celebrated solo albums, Aliento (2010), Terrestre (2012) and Density (2013), and in 2014 launched Density 2036, a 22-year commissioning project to create an entirely new body of repertory for solo flute between 2014 and 2036, the centenary of Edgard Varèse’s groundbreaking 1936 flute solo, Density 21.5. In 2010, she made her critically-acclaimed Carnegie Hall recital debut. Chase presently is a Professor of the Practice in the Department of Music at Harvard University. Chase grew up in Leucadia, CA with the childhood dream of becoming a professional baseball player before she discovered the flute. She received her B.M. from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music.
Rodgers continued, “The Wall Street Journal has described her music as ‘a rare combination of grace and guts.’ The New Yorker calls it ‘spectacular’ and The New York Times says she has ‘extravagant technique, broad stylistic range and penetrating musicality.’ At home in New York, Claire performs at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Lincoln Center. To have her on our little stage at the Artful Lobster is a gift: from the Hermitage to our patrons and from Claire to the Hermitage. We look forward to congratulating her and celebrating with lobster when we are together again.”
The Hermitage is a not-for-profit artist retreat located at 6660 Manasota Key Road in Englewood, FL. It invites accomplished painters, sculptors, writers, playwrights, poets, composers and other artists from all over the world for residencies on its beachfront historic campus. Many artists are Pulitzer Prize, Tony, Emmy, Grammy and MacArthur “Genius” award winners. Artists are asked to interact with the community during their stay and as a result, Hermitage artists touch thousands of Gulf Coast community residents with unique and inspiring programs each year. Hermitage community programs are partially sponsored by the Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Council of Arts and Culture and the State of Florida (Section 286.25, Florida Statutes). For more information about The Hermitage Artist Retreat or the Artful Lobster event, call 941-475-2098, ext. 2, or visit the website at www.HermitageArtistRetreat.org
