I am very excited to share the first episode of flute talks with you today, because I had the idea of the podcast right after finding out I was enrolled for Claire Chase Darmstadt flute studio!
In this episode we talk about everything from food to flute practice, teaching, love, history, and trees going in the ground with the help of music. One part that stuck with me for a long time was the one about the true meaning of stage presence(s). I hope you will love this talk as much as I do.
Many thanks to Phoebe Bognár, Marie Kalender, Malin Sieberns and Teresa Diaz de Cossio who helped me with the questions we discuss with Claire. You can hear us talk about Matthieu Grandola and Sylvain Monchocé, who performed pieces from Density 2036 during Darmstadt flute studio. I couldn’t include all the questions because of lack of time, and Nathalie Van Meirvenne wanted to ask Claire what was her favorite book or literature genre.
And needless to say, our chicken family experience wouldn’t have been the same without Anne Davids, Marianne Sihvonen, Levke Schulte-Ostermann and Molly Påhlsson
In the podcast, you will hear us talk about Claire’s project and the concert she played in Darmstadt. I am sure you are super curious to find out more. Very easy, just go read everything about it on the official site of Darmstadt:
Claire Chase on the Darmstadt website – the dossier
Pictures by Kristof Lemp
This Darmstadt first “COVID-19 edition” could have felt frustrating. The students composers had to take the course online, the studio concerts were without live public and broadcasted live in Gather, and many people couldn’t travel due to restrictions.
But on the other hand, it was so great to be able to experience concerts again, and being together with so many enthusiasts of contemporary music.
The Flute Studio concert was outdoors. Lucky enough, we had just some raindrops at the very end of the concert…
Pictures 1, 4,5,6,7 & 8 by Kristof Lemp.
Last day together : mix of sad and happy. Dear Claire, thank you from the bottom of our hearts, really.
I hope you enjoyed this first episode of the podcast, and hope you got inspired to find your people, your community and do your thing together.
If you liked it, please consider sharing this little space of joy and wisdom from Claire with other flutists.
P.S. So what’s the deal with the chicken? Well, it was simply our little inside joke : one of those great group sessions when we were experimenting with sound resonance and space in the chest. Levke was playing her piece and with her chest full of volume she said she was feeling proud like the chickens in her parents’ farm ❤ Since then we were the chicken gang!
Renata Kambarova 