Claire Chase

Described by The New York Times as “the North Star of her instrument’s ever-expanding universe,” Oberlin alum Claire Chase is a flutist, interdisciplinary artist, curator, and teacher. Passionately dedicated to the creation of new ecosystems for the music of our time, Chase has given the world premieres of hundreds of new works by a new generation of artists. She was the first flutist to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2012. As an undergraduate at Oberlin Conservatory, Chase co-founded the International Contemporary Ensemble, which held in-depth residencies at Oberlin in the spring of 2025 and 2026. In 2013, Chase launched the 24-year commissioning project Density 2036, from which she will bring multi-media works to Oberlin to perform.