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ROGER CHASE JOINS STRING FACULTY OF OBERLIN CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC

MAY 23, 2001--Robert K. Dodson, dean of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College, announces the appointment to Oberlin's faculty of Roger Chase as associate professor of viola, effective July 1, 2001.

"I am delighted that Mr. Chase will be joining our faculty," says Dean Dodson. "Oberlin students will benefit immensely from working with him."

Chase comes to Oberlin from London, where he has been a member of the Esterhazy Baryton Trio, the Quartet of London, the Nash ensemble, the period instrument ensemble Hausmusik, and of the contemporary music ensemble the London Sinfonietta. Most recently he has served as guest principal viola of both the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

He has taught viola and chamber music at the Guildhall School of Music since 1985. He has also been on the faculty of the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and the Académie Internationale des Music de Chambre in Holland.

Born in London, Chase received his ARCM degree [associate honors diploma] in 1974 from the Royal College of Music [RCM]. His teachers include Lionel Tertis, Bernard Shore, Frederick Riddle and Hugh Bean at the RCM; Bruno Giuranna, Alberto Lysy, Sandor Vegh and Tibor Varga in Europe; and Steven Staryk in Toronto.

Chase plays on the 1717 Montagnana viola, which once belonged to Tertis and Shore, and which Shore nicknamed "the Monty." An Anthology of British Viola Players, compiled and edited by John White, notes that "Chase and 'the Monty' have been together for a number of years. . . anyone who has heard them, in concert or recital, will appreciate that they make up one of the most powerful fusions of man and instrument on the musical scene."

Chase appears on many prize-winning recordings of chamber music for such labels as EMI, CRD and Floating Earth Records. For Hyperion and for Virgin Classics he recorded Benjamin Britten's Lachrymae. Chase also recorded, for Cala and for Virgin Classics, Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major, K. 364.

Among the composers who have written concertos for Chase are Richard Harvey, Jonathan Lloyd and Francis Holmes; among those who have written chamber or solo works for him are Simon Holt, David Matthews, Giles Swayne, Michael Berkeley, Simon Bainbridge, Neil Saunders, Richard Harvey, James MacMillan and David Gow.

Chase made his solo debut with the English Chamber Orchestra in 1979; he offered his solo debut at a Promenade Concert in 1987. He broadcasts frequently as a recitalist and chamber musician for the BBC, and in Europe and the United States.

The Oberlin Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College, founded in 1865, is the nation's oldest continuously operating conservatory, and the only major music school in the country linked with a preeminent college of arts and sciences. The Conservatory offers majors in performance, composition, music education, music theory, electronic and computer music, jazz studies, music history, and a double major in piano performance and vocal accompanying. There are more than 400 public concerts on campus each year--most of them free--including performances by student ensembles, faculty members, and performances and master classes by guest artists.

Media Contact: Marci Janas