Stephanie Chase
Encyclopedia
"One of the most respected classical violinists in the world," Stephanie Chase (born in Evanston, Illinois
) is an American concert violinist and educator.
, the London Symphony Orchestra
, the Chicago Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony
, the American Classical Orchestra
, and the Atlanta Symphony, among many others. Her active repertoire features over 50 concertos and she has soloed in collaboration with conductors that include Zubin Mehta
, Leonard Slatkin
, Herbert Blomstedt
, Frans Brüggen
, Marin Alsop
, Roy Goodman
, Hugh Wolff
and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski
.
In December 2009, her "sensational" performances of Elgar's Violin Concerto with the Louisville Orchestra
was selected as a "Classical Act of the Decade." In October 2011, her New York recital with pianist Sara Davis Buechner
was chosen by WQXR
as one of "20 Concerts to Hear This Fall" and by Musical America
as a "Critic's Choice." That same month she gave the apparent North American concert premiere of the "Sonata in A Major for violin solo, MS 83" by Niccolo Paganini
at a recital at New York University
.
Her discography encompasses major concerti, chamber works, collections of salon pieces by diverse composers, and includes several world premieres.
Chase is also a specialist in period instrument practice and actively performs on both types of violins. Of a recent performance with the American Classical Orchestra, the New York Times noted that "the fine violinist Stephanie Chase was an elegant soloist in Beethoven's Romance in F for violin and orchestra."
Chase is the daughter of two musicians, the noted arranger and composer Bruce Chase
and violinist Fannie (Paschell) Chase. She gave her first public performance when only two years old and was recognized as a child prodigy
. She studied first with her mother and then embarked on studies with Sally Thomas, then an assistant to Ivan Galamian at The Juilliard School. While still in her teens she moved to Belgium to study privately with Arthur Grumiaux
, who is noted as "holding her in regard for her energy and the way in which she put into practice what he taught...(and) she remained one of his preferred pupils." Following her return to the United States, Chase attended the Marlboro Festival in Vermont in the early 1980s, where she was coached in chamber music by musicians that included Rudolf Serkin
, Rudolf Firkusny
, Felix Galimir
, Samuel Rhodes, and David Soyer
.
Chase attained world prominence as a top medalist of the International Tchaikovsky Competition
in 1982, an achievement that is especially remarkable in view of the extremely poor relations that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union at the time plus the fact that violin jury chairman Leonid Kogan had two of his own students, Viktoria Mullova and Sergei Stadler, competing.
In 1986, Chase was a featured soloist with the Hong Kong Philharmonic on its debut concert tour of the People's Republic of China
, with Kenneth Schermerhorn
conducting. The following year, she was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.
Her recording of Beethoven's Violin Concerto and Romances, with the Hanover Band
, was the first ever on period instruments and features her own cadenzas. It has been selected as “one of the twenty most outstanding performances in the work's recorded history” and honored with the highest possible ratings by BBC Music Magazine in a review by scholar H. C. Robbins Landon
. Chase's experience in period instrument playing led her to join a New York Times music critic in faulting cellist Yo-Yo Ma for a performance on "Baroque" cello in which his cello and bow evidently were not historically accurate.
In 2001, she co-founded the Music of the Spheres Society
, which is devoted to exploring the links between music, philosophy, and the sciences. Chase is a former member of the Boston Chamber Music Society
(1982–1997) and has recorded several works with the ensemble. She is a frequent guest of music festivals worldwide, including Caramoor, Kuhmo (Finland), Sommerfest (sponsored by the Minnesota Orchestra
), Nuits de Bourgogne and Music from Marlboro. In July 2010 she replaced an artist on one day's notice for three concerts at the Bravo! Vail Festival that included the Colorado premiere of Joan Tower's Piano Quartet.
Following the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, Chase was among the musicians who were invited to cross through National Guard security and perform for the rescue and recovery workers in St. Paul's Chapel, which was used as a relief center.
Between 2007 and 2011, Chase programmed and hosted several events at the http://www.philoctetes.org Philoctetes Center as part of its "Music and Imagination" series.
Music arrangements by Stephanie Chase have been performed by Itzhak Perlman
and The Perlman Music Program and performed and recorded by The American String Project.
Chase has been an assistant professor of violin at the Steinhardt School at New York University
since 2006 and is on the faculty of the Aaron Copland
School of Music at Queens College, City University of New York
. Formerly a member of the faculties of the Boston Conservatory
and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(adjunct), she has given master classes throughout the United States and in Mexico, including the San Francisco Conservatory, Rice University
, Southern Methodist University
, the Institute for Strings, and the University of Texas (Austin). She is a frequent judge for concerto competition finals at The Juilliard School.
Chase plays on a violin made in 1742 by Pietro Guarneri
, the ex-Paschell, which she pairs with a bow made by Dominique Peccatte
. Her Classical violin, which is outfitted with gut strings, a Baroque-model bridge and no chinrest, is by an unknown German maker and dates from circa 1790. With this violin she employs a transitional-style bow.
and is an aunt to the actors Becki Newton
and Matt Newton
.
- Music for violin and piano (2008) (with pianist Virginia Eskin)
Ravel: Five O'Clock Foxtrot - Tzigane (re-released 2008) (with The Philharmonia)
Bygone Days - Music for Violin and Piano by Rudolf Friml
(2006) (with pianist Sara Davis Buechner
)
Live from Benaroya Hall - Music by Sarasate, arr. by Stephanie Chase, with The American String Project (2006)
Music for Horn - Brahms Horn Trio, with Lowell Greer and Steven Lubin (2001) (on period instruments)
Mozart: Violin Concerti (1994) (on period instruments)
Beethoven: Violin Concerto and Romances (1993) (on period instruments)
Boccherini: Sei Sonata a Tre - (1994) (with Max Barros, fortepiano, and Christine Gummere, cello, on period instruments)
Schoenberg: Verklaerte Nacht - (1991) (with members of the Boston Chamber Music Society)
's Youth Competition at age nine.
First prize, G. B. Dealey Competition.
Top prizewinner, International Tchaikovsky Competition
.
Avery Fisher Career Grant.
Evanston, Illinois
Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...
) is an American concert violinist and educator.
Biography
Chase's playing is characterized by "virtuosity galore," with "great intensity and a huge tone, the epitome of the modern violinist," and she is "renowned for her impeccable intonation." As soloist, she has performed in twenty-five countries with the New York PhilharmonicNew York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
, the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
, the Chicago Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...
, the American Classical Orchestra
American Classical Orchestra
The American Classical Orchestra is "devoted to preserving and performing the repertoire of 17th- to 19th-century composers, playing the works on original or reproduced period instruments...
, and the Atlanta Symphony, among many others. Her active repertoire features over 50 concertos and she has soloed in collaboration with conductors that include Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta is an Indian conductor of western classical music. He is the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.-Biography:...
, Leonard Slatkin
Leonard Slatkin
Leonard Edward Slatkin is an American conductor and composer.-Early life and education:Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His father Felix Slatkin was the violinist, conductor and founder of the Hollywood String Quartet,...
, Herbert Blomstedt
Herbert Blomstedt
Herbert Blomstedt is a Swedish conductor.Herbert Blomstedt was born in Springfield, Massachusetts and two years after his birth, his Swedish parents moved the family back to their country of origin...
, Frans Brüggen
Frans Brüggen
Frans Brüggen is a well-known Dutch conductor, recorder player and baroque flautist.-Biography:Brüggen studied recorder and flute at the Amsterdam Muzieklyceum. He also studied musicology at the University of Amsterdam. In 1955, at the age of 21, he was appointed professor at the Royal...
, Marin Alsop
Marin Alsop
Marin Alsop is an American conductor and violinist. She is the music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.In 2012, Alsop will replace Yan Pascal Tortelier as principal conductor of the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra....
, Roy Goodman
Roy Goodman
Roy Goodman is a conductor and violinist, specialising in the performance and direction of early music...
, Hugh Wolff
Hugh Wolff
Hugh Wolff is an American conductor.He was born in Paris while his father was serving in the U. S. Foreign Service, then spent his primary-school years in London. He received his higher education at Harvard and at Peabody Conservatory...
and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski
Stanislaw Skrowaczewski
Stanisław Skrowaczewski is an internationally known classical conductor and composer. He was born in Lvov and became best known for his work with the Minnesota Orchestra....
.
In December 2009, her "sensational" performances of Elgar's Violin Concerto with the Louisville Orchestra
Louisville Orchestra
The Louisville Orchestra is the primary orchestra in Louisville, Kentucky and has been called the cornerstone of the Louisville arts scene. It was founded in 1937 by Robert Whitney and Charles Farnsley, Mayor of Louisville...
was selected as a "Classical Act of the Decade." In October 2011, her New York recital with pianist Sara Davis Buechner
Sara Davis Buechner
Sara Davis Buechner is an American concert pianist and educator. She has been an assistant professor of piano at the University of British Columbia since 2003, and was formerly a member of the faculties of Manhattan School of Music and New York University.Buechner received her bachelor's and...
was chosen by WQXR
WQXR
WQXR refers to the following broadcasting stations in the United States:*WQXR-FM, a radio station on 105.9 MHz licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States...
as one of "20 Concerts to Hear This Fall" and by Musical America
Musical America
Musical America is the oldest American magazine on classical music. Presently it is a website with a weekly online magazine. It is currently published by UBM Global Trade.-History:...
as a "Critic's Choice." That same month she gave the apparent North American concert premiere of the "Sonata in A Major for violin solo, MS 83" by Niccolo Paganini
Niccolò Paganini
Niccolò Paganini was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was one of the most celebrated violin virtuosi of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique...
at a recital at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
.
Her discography encompasses major concerti, chamber works, collections of salon pieces by diverse composers, and includes several world premieres.
Chase is also a specialist in period instrument practice and actively performs on both types of violins. Of a recent performance with the American Classical Orchestra, the New York Times noted that "the fine violinist Stephanie Chase was an elegant soloist in Beethoven's Romance in F for violin and orchestra."
Chase is the daughter of two musicians, the noted arranger and composer Bruce Chase
Bruce Chase
Bruce Chase was an American composer and music arranger.-Early life and education:Robert Bruce Chase was born on March 22, 1912 in Muscatine, Iowa. His parents were locally prominent musicians; his father a violinist and his mother a piano teacher, and he began to play violin at a young age. By...
and violinist Fannie (Paschell) Chase. She gave her first public performance when only two years old and was recognized as a child prodigy
Child prodigy
A child prodigy is someone who, at an early age, masters one or more skills far beyond his or her level of maturity. One criterion for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 18 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding...
. She studied first with her mother and then embarked on studies with Sally Thomas, then an assistant to Ivan Galamian at The Juilliard School. While still in her teens she moved to Belgium to study privately with Arthur Grumiaux
Arthur Grumiaux
Arthur Grumiaux was a Belgian violinist who was also proficient in piano.-Youth:Grumiaux was born in Villers-Perwin, Belgium to a working-class family, and it was his grandfather who urged him to begin music studies at the age of only 4...
, who is noted as "holding her in regard for her energy and the way in which she put into practice what he taught...(and) she remained one of his preferred pupils." Following her return to the United States, Chase attended the Marlboro Festival in Vermont in the early 1980s, where she was coached in chamber music by musicians that included Rudolf Serkin
Rudolf Serkin
Rudolf Serkin , was a Bohemian-born pianist.-Life and early career:Serkin was born in Eger, Bohemia, Austro-Hungarian Empire to a Russian-Jewish family....
, Rudolf Firkusny
Rudolf Firkusny
- Life :Born in Moravian Napajedla, Firkušný started his musical studies with the composers Leoš Janáček and Josef Suk, and the pianist Vilém Kurz. Later he studied with Alfred Cortot and Artur Schnabel. He began performing on the continent of Europe in the 1920s, and made his debuts in London in...
, Felix Galimir
Felix Galimir
Felix Galimir was an Austrian-born American-Jewish violinist and music teacher.He studied with Adolf Bak and Simon Pullman at the Vienna Conservatory from the age of twelve and graduated in 1928. With his three sisters he founded the Galimir Quartet in 1927 to commemorate the 100-year anniversary...
, Samuel Rhodes, and David Soyer
David Soyer
David Soyer was an American cellist.He was born in Philadelphia and began playing the piano at the age of nine. At 11, he started the cello. One of his first teachers was Diran Alexanian. Later on he studied with Emanuel Feuermann and Pablo Casals...
.
Chase attained world prominence as a top medalist of the International Tchaikovsky Competition
International Tchaikovsky Competition
The International Tchaikovsky Competition is a classical music competition held every four years in Moscow, Russia for pianists, violinists, and cellists between 16 and 30 years of age, and singers between 19 and 32 years of age...
in 1982, an achievement that is especially remarkable in view of the extremely poor relations that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union at the time plus the fact that violin jury chairman Leonid Kogan had two of his own students, Viktoria Mullova and Sergei Stadler, competing.
In 1986, Chase was a featured soloist with the Hong Kong Philharmonic on its debut concert tour of the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, with Kenneth Schermerhorn
Kenneth Schermerhorn
Kenneth Dewitt Schermerhorn was an American composer and orchestra conductor, most notably for the Nashville Symphony.-Biography:Schermerhorn was born in Schenectady, New York, where he studied clarinet, violin, and trumpet in school. At age 14, he forged a baptismal certificate to appear older so...
conducting. The following year, she was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.
Her recording of Beethoven's Violin Concerto and Romances, with the Hanover Band
Hanover Band
The Hanover Band founded by Caroline Brown in 1980 is a British period-instrument orchestra.The group's website explains the name thus: 'Hanover' signifies the Hanoverian period 1714-1830 and 'Band' is the 18th century term for orchestra....
, was the first ever on period instruments and features her own cadenzas. It has been selected as “one of the twenty most outstanding performances in the work's recorded history” and honored with the highest possible ratings by BBC Music Magazine in a review by scholar H. C. Robbins Landon
H. C. Robbins Landon
Howard Chandler Robbins Landon was an American musicologist.He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and studied music at Swarthmore College and Boston University. He subsequently moved to Europe where he worked as a music critic. From 1947 he undertook research in Vienna on Joseph Haydn, a composer...
. Chase's experience in period instrument playing led her to join a New York Times music critic in faulting cellist Yo-Yo Ma for a performance on "Baroque" cello in which his cello and bow evidently were not historically accurate.
In 2001, she co-founded the Music of the Spheres Society
Music of the Spheres Society
Inspired by the Neoplatonic academies of 16th and 17th-century Italy, which combined discourse with musical presentations, the Music of the Spheres Society was founded in 2001 by its artistic director and violinist, Stephanie Chase, and hornist Ann Ellsworth...
, which is devoted to exploring the links between music, philosophy, and the sciences. Chase is a former member of the Boston Chamber Music Society
Boston Chamber Music Society
The Boston Chamber Music Society is an American organization of musicians located in Boston, Massachusetts and dedicated to the performance and promotion of chamber music. The organization performs works from the Baroque era to the present day and is a member of Chamber Music America...
(1982–1997) and has recorded several works with the ensemble. She is a frequent guest of music festivals worldwide, including Caramoor, Kuhmo (Finland), Sommerfest (sponsored by the Minnesota Orchestra
Minnesota Orchestra
The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.Emil Oberhoffer founded the orchestra as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, and it gave its first performance on November 5 of that year. In 1968 the orchestra changed to its name to the Minnesota Orchestra...
), Nuits de Bourgogne and Music from Marlboro. In July 2010 she replaced an artist on one day's notice for three concerts at the Bravo! Vail Festival that included the Colorado premiere of Joan Tower's Piano Quartet.
Following the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, Chase was among the musicians who were invited to cross through National Guard security and perform for the rescue and recovery workers in St. Paul's Chapel, which was used as a relief center.
Between 2007 and 2011, Chase programmed and hosted several events at the http://www.philoctetes.org Philoctetes Center as part of its "Music and Imagination" series.
Music arrangements by Stephanie Chase have been performed by Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlman is an Israeli-born violinist, conductor, and instructor of master classes. He is regarded as one of the pre-eminent violinists of the 20th and early-21st centuries.-Early life:...
and The Perlman Music Program and performed and recorded by The American String Project.
Chase has been an assistant professor of violin at the Steinhardt School at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
since 2006 and is on the faculty of the Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
School of Music at Queens College, City University of New York
Queens College, City University of New York
Queens College, located in Flushing, Queens, New York City, is one of the senior colleges of the City University of New York. It is also the fifth oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning. The college's seventy seven acre campus is located in the heart of the...
. Formerly a member of the faculties of the Boston Conservatory
Boston Conservatory
The Boston Conservatory is a performing arts conservatory located in the Fenway-Kenmore region of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in music, dance and musical theater...
and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
(adjunct), she has given master classes throughout the United States and in Mexico, including the San Francisco Conservatory, Rice University
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...
, Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University is a private university in Dallas, Texas, United States. Founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, SMU operates campuses in Dallas, Plano, and Taos, New Mexico. SMU is owned by the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church...
, the Institute for Strings, and the University of Texas (Austin). She is a frequent judge for concerto competition finals at The Juilliard School.
Chase plays on a violin made in 1742 by Pietro Guarneri
Pietro Guarneri
Pietro Guarneri was an Italian luthier. Sometimes referred to as Pietro da Venezia, he was the son of Giuseppe Giovanni Battista Guarneri, filius Andreae, and the last of the Guarneri house of violin-makers...
, the ex-Paschell, which she pairs with a bow made by Dominique Peccatte
Dominique Peccatte
Dominique Peccatte was an influential French luthier and bow maker. He was apprenticed in Mirecourt and later worked with Jean Baptiste Vuillaume....
. Her Classical violin, which is outfitted with gut strings, a Baroque-model bridge and no chinrest, is by an unknown German maker and dates from circa 1790. With this violin she employs a transitional-style bow.
Personal
Stephanie Chase is married to the musical instrument expert Stewart PollensStewart Pollens
Trained as a violin and keyboard-instrument maker, Stewart Pollens served as the Conservator of Musical Instruments at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1976–2006...
and is an aunt to the actors Becki Newton
Becki Newton
Rebecca Sara "Becki" Newton is an American actress known for her role as Amanda Tanen on the television series Ugly Betty.-Early life:...
and Matt Newton
Matt Newton
Matthew Collins "Matt" Newton is an American actor.-Early life:Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Matt Newton was raised in Guilford, Connecticut. He is of English descent and began performing musicals and plays at local theaters while in high school...
.
Discography
Vítězslava KaprálováVítezslava Kaprálová
Vítězslava Kaprálová was a Czech composer and conductor. Among her teachers were some of the best European composers and conductors of the time - Bohuslav Martinů, Václav Talich, and Charles Münch.-Life:She was a daughter of composer Václav Kaprál...
- Music for violin and piano (2008) (with pianist Virginia Eskin)
Ravel: Five O'Clock Foxtrot - Tzigane (re-released 2008) (with The Philharmonia)
Bygone Days - Music for Violin and Piano by Rudolf Friml
Rudolf Friml
Rudolf Friml was a composer of operettas, musicals, songs and piano pieces, as well as a pianist. After musical training and a brief performing career in his native Prague, Friml moved to the United States, where he became a composer...
(2006) (with pianist Sara Davis Buechner
Sara Davis Buechner
Sara Davis Buechner is an American concert pianist and educator. She has been an assistant professor of piano at the University of British Columbia since 2003, and was formerly a member of the faculties of Manhattan School of Music and New York University.Buechner received her bachelor's and...
)
Live from Benaroya Hall - Music by Sarasate, arr. by Stephanie Chase, with The American String Project (2006)
Music for Horn - Brahms Horn Trio, with Lowell Greer and Steven Lubin (2001) (on period instruments)
Mozart: Violin Concerti (1994) (on period instruments)
Beethoven: Violin Concerto and Romances (1993) (on period instruments)
Boccherini: Sei Sonata a Tre - (1994) (with Max Barros, fortepiano, and Christine Gummere, cello, on period instruments)
Schoenberg: Verklaerte Nacht - (1991) (with members of the Boston Chamber Music Society)
Awards
She won the Chicago Symphony OrchestraChicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
's Youth Competition at age nine.
First prize, G. B. Dealey Competition.
Top prizewinner, International Tchaikovsky Competition
International Tchaikovsky Competition
The International Tchaikovsky Competition is a classical music competition held every four years in Moscow, Russia for pianists, violinists, and cellists between 16 and 30 years of age, and singers between 19 and 32 years of age...
.
Avery Fisher Career Grant.
External links
- Stephanie Chase Official site
Stephanie Chase at [ Allmusic.com]
Stephanie Chase at - Amazon.com
Stephanie Chase at Arkivmusic.com