Clarice Assad, 2008-09 Featured Composer

The New Century Chamber Orchestra welcomed Clarice Assad as the 2008-09 Featured Composer! Audiences who attended concerts in September and May enjoyed the world premieres of the NCCO's Assad commissions Impressions, Suite for Chamber Orchestra and Dreamscapes, a violin concerto.

A versatile artist of musical depth and sophistication, Clarice Assad is making her mark in the music world in not one, but three areas: as a composer, pianist, and vocalist. An accomplished composer and arranger whose work is sought out by musicians both in the classical and the jazz realms, Clarice Assad is also a seasoned performer.

As a composer, her works have been published in France (Editions Lemoine), Germany (Trekel), and in the United States (Virtual Artists Collective Publishing), and have been performed in Europe, South America, the United States and Japan. Ms. Assad’s works often have a thematic core, and explore the physical and psychological elements of the chosen story, object or concept.
Clarice Assad’s commissions are numerous. Recent world premieres include Pole to Pole by Cube (mixed ensemble) in Chicago, Illinois (sponsored by Chicago Latin Women Composers) in November 2007; Ms. Assad’s arrangement for solo violin and string orchestra of Kreisler’s Praeludium and Allegro by violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and the New Century Chamber Orchestra in December 2007; Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, commissioned and recorded by violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, with conductor Marin Alsop and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra on the NSS MUSIC label in 2004, and Brazilian Fanfare, an overture for full orchestra commissioned by conductor Robert Bernhardt and premiered in March 2006 with the Chattanooga Symphony (it has also been performed by the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra). Ms. Assad has worked with and written music for the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, the Turtle Island String Quartet, violinist Iwao Furusawa and many of Sergio & Odair Assad’s collaborators. Ms. Assad has also written original compositions to accompany ballet and theatrical plays.

Further testament to Ms. Assad’s composing talent is evidenced in selection to participate in the 100th Anniversary of the MacDowell Colony in October 2007. More recently, New York premieres in April and June of 2008 resulted in recognition by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Institute. Clarice Assad’s 2008–09 season included commissions and arrangements for the New Century Chamber Orchestra as the ensembles’ featured season composer.

As a pianist, Clarice Assad has received acclaim for her performances of original compositions and her own arrangements of popular Brazilian songs and jazz standards. She has appeared throughout Brazil, including performances at Sao Paulo’s Espaco Promom and Sesc, Rio de Janeiro’s Teatro Vanucci, Mistura Fina and Teatro Ipanema, among others. In the United States Ms. Assad has performed at venues including The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, Centennial Hall in Arizona, Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts in California, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall in Chicago, Modlin Center for the Performing Arts in Richmond, as well as at prestigious jazz clubs such as the HotHouse in Chicago and The Knitting Factory in New York City. Appearances in Europe include Le Casino de Paris in Paris, France and the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, Belgium.

As a vocalist, Ms. Assad sings in Portuguese, French, Italian and English, earning rave reviews. She has appeared on Brazilian, American and European radio and television numerous times, including NPR’s All Songs Considered as a favorite of the week, Marshal Vente’s show on WDCB, on Chicago’s WLUW with Steve Shroeder and on WHCR with host Nelson Radhames. Most recently, she studied with Bobby McFerrin in a selective workshop for young singers sponsored by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Institute.

A native of Rio de Janeiro, Clarice Assad was born into one of Brazil’s most famous musical families, as the daughter of Sergio Assad, one of today’s preeminent guitarists and composers, and has performed professionally since the age of seven. Formal piano studies began with Sheila Zagury in Brazil; she studied with Natalie Fortin and had additional instruction in jazz and Brazilian piano under the tutelage of Leandro Braga.

Clarice continued her classical piano studies in the United States with Ed Bedner at the Berklee School of Music, and Bruce Berr at Roosevelt University in Chicago. Composition studies have been with Ilya Levinson, Stacy Garrop, David Rakowski, Michael Daugherty and Claude Baker. Ms. Assad holds a Bachelor of Music from the Chicago College of the Performing Arts, Roosevelt University in Chicago, Illinois, and a Masters of Music in composition from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Honors and awards include the Aaron Copland Award, the Franklin Honor Society Award, ASCAP’s Morton Gould Young Composer Award, The Osvaldo Golijov/Dawn Upshaw Workshop from the Carnegie Hall workshop series, the International Alliance of Jazz Education (IAJE) Award for outstanding service to jazz education and the Brazilian Rumos Award for outstanding performance in Latin jazz.

For more information about Clarice, please visit:  www.clariceassad.com