Biography
Composer Jordan Chase writes music that is innovative and appealing to diverse audiences and performers alike. His music is described as “lyrical, rhythmically jagged and stark in majesty” (The Boston Musical Intelligencer), drawing upon his life experiences to forge a freedom of expression and depth of meaning. Chase’s music has been performed, recorded, and published by ensembles and artists throughout the United States and abroad.
The 2023 season featured a profile concert at Towson University on April 19, 2023, which saw the premiere of under the aspect of eternity, for percussion quartet, and when I arrive, for solo cello, as well as performances of In Realms of Passing Dreams and The Earth Holds Ghosts. 2023/2024 will feature both premieres and music video releases of Celestial Air, performed and recorded by Brandon Dicks, The Taste for Nothingness, performed by Ah Young Hong, Conrad Harris, and Coleman Itzkoff, and Hollow Winds, performed by Wan-Chi Su. Other new works to round out the season include a guitar solo for Tom Clippinger , and a new electric guitar quartet for the New York City Guitar Quartet. Performance dates and locations will be announced in the near future.
In the summer of 2022, Chase was featured as the resident composer and judge at the James Stroud International Youth Guitar Competition, held at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Toward a Copper Sea, for solo guitar, was premiered by the semi-finalists. Additional new pieces in 2021-2022 included In realms of passing dreams, for solo guitar and five pre-recorded guitars, which was released as a music video featuring John Marcel Williams on guitar, and produced by Andrew Bohman. The piece was later premiered by David Ross in Keene, NH at the Keene State College Prism Concert. Chase’s guitar quartet, Between Earth and Sky, was the opening work at Manuel Barrueco’s solo recital. The piece was commissioned by the Baltimore Classical Guitar Society.
In 2020 Chase was commissioned by the TU New Music Ensemble for his string quartet, Drift Into Light, which received performances by the Bergamot Quartet in NYC, Baltimore, and Towson, MD. As a guest composer for the Rhode Island Recording Ensemble, his large ensemble work, Emanations, was recorded, and Chase also taught a composition masterclass. The Rhode Island Recording Ensemble records, publishes, and distributes works of living composers to promote the expanding nature of new repertoire for wind ensemble. Emanations is featured on the Rhode Island Recording Ensemble’s album, Radiant Dance.
In February 2018, Chase’s guitar solo, Nevermore, was premiered at the Baltimore Classical Guitar Society’s concert, “Made in Baltimore.” Nevermore was inspired by the mysteries surrounding the death of Edgar Allan Poe. The Baltimore Classical Guitar Society, led by Artistic Director Manuel Barrueco, commissioned this work. Subsequently, Nevermore was awarded second place in the 2018 International Boston Guitarfest Composition Competition.
Chase’s orchestral work, Forthcoming, was the winner of the Longy Conservatory Orchestra Composition Competition. Sean Wang and the Longy Conservatory Orchestra led the premiere in December 2016 in Cambridge, MA. Other notable awards include the Pappalardo Composition Competition for his wind quintet, Quintalogue, which was premiered by the Radius Ensemble in March 2015, and a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship grant, which supported the funding of Foreign Comfort, a three-movement work for chamber orchestra. He presented his composition at the National Conference of Undergraduate Research at the University of Kentucky. Chase became the first recipient in the School of Arts and Humanities at Keene State College to receive this award.
Also an active classical guitarist, Chase performs regularly as both a soloist and chamber musician. He has performed with the KSC Guitar Orchestra, Latin American Ensemble, Currants Contemporary Ensemble, Longy Guitar Ensemble, and the Boston Guitar Festival Orchestra. He was selected as a soloist to play for NH Governor Maggie Hassan and her executive council, as well as the KSC Orchestra, and the 2016 Boston Guitar Festival. He has performed in Masterclasses with Ana Vidovic, Marco Pereira and the Dublin Guitar Quartet. Chase was named “Instrumentalist of the Year” during the 2013/2014 academic school year at Keene State College. He studied classical guitar with Louis Melchor, José Lezcano and William Riley.
Originally from Northern New Jersey, Jordan taught himself to play guitar at the age of 14. Jordan was introduced to classical music at Keene State College, where, under the direction of José Lezcano, he received his first formal guitar lesson. The following year he began studying composition, which would be the catalyst that propelled him into what is now a lifelong passion. The overwhelming dedication, conviction of purpose, and artistic prowess of the unbelievable teachers and mentors Jordan encountered throughout his life has led him in the direction of teaching at a college or university level. He currently resides in Baltimore, MD, while teaching at Levine Music, Towson University, and co-directs the Composer’s Recording Project.
Chase received his BA in music from Keene State College, a MM in composition from the Longy School of Music of Bard College, and a DMA in composition from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. His past composition teachers include Heather Gilligan, Paul Brust, Michael Hersch and Felipe Lara.
