Monday (10/1) on the WQXR blog (New York), Brian Wise reports, “The flutist Claire Chase, the bow maker Benoit Rolland and the mandolin player Chris Thile are among the 23 recipients of this year’s MacArthur Foundation ‘genius grants,’ revealed on Monday by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The 10 women and 13 men, known as fellows, were selected for their creativity, originality and potential. They range in age from 31 to 66. Each will receive $100,000 a year for five years, no strings attached. … Claire Chase, 34, is a New York-based flutist and executive director of the International Contemporary Ensemble, a new-music ensemble she founded in 2001. The group has premiered some 500 works, established a composer mentoring program called Icelab, and held residencies at Lincoln Center and other major venues. … Benoit Roland has created bows for string players including Anne-Sophie Mutter, Christian Tetzlaff, Julia Fischer, Lynn Harrell as well as past legends like Mstislav Rostropovich and Yehudi Menuhin. … Chris Thile, 31, is a mandolin player who played with the progressive bluegrass trio Nickel Creek and is now touring with Punch Brothers. He wrote a mandolin concerto in 2009 on a commission by a consortium of orchestras including the Colorado Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Oregon Symphony.” For more on the Thile commission, see the SymphonyNOW article “Concerto on 8 Strings.”
Posted October 2, 2012
