Staff
ICE employs a full-time staff of six, each of whom brings a different and complementary background in the performing arts. This lean administrative team is highly collaborative, with marketing, outreach, fundraising, and artistic programming functions shared, and major strategic decisions reached through conversation and engagement with the ICE musicians. The result of this model is a structure that encourages risk-taking and innovation, channeling individual energies and ideas into a collective mission.
Claire Chase, flute, Artistic Director/CEO
Claire Chase is active as a soloist, collaborative artist, curator and arts entrepreneur. Over the past decade Claire has given the world premieres of more than 100 new works for solo flute, many of them tailor-made for her, and she has produced and curated more than 500 concerts of contemporary music. First Prize Winner of the 2008 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, Claire has given solo recitals recently at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and throughout the US. Claire released her debut solo album in October 2009 on the New Focus Recordings label featuring world premieres by emerging composers, which was named one of the Top Ten Releases of the Year by TimeOut Chicago
Joshua Rubin, clarinet, Program Director
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Joshua Rubin is a founding clarinetist and the Program Director of ICE (International Contemporary Ensemble), described by The New Yorker as “A powerhouse of new-music programming on a Chicago-New York axis…brilliant and unexpected”. He participated in ICE's debut concerts at New York's Alice Tully Hall in 2001 and at the Miller Theatre of Columbia University in 2003.
Jonathan Harris, Business Manager
More to come!
Matthew Simon, Company Manager
Matthew Simon is a performing arts administration professional and the Company Manager for the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). His role at ICE encompasses managing logistics, interfacing with presenters and venues, managing ICE's music library, and assisting in the creation of marketing and PR strategies.
Kit Baker, Grants Manager
Kit Baker has worked for leading performing and visual arts organizations on both sides of the Atlantic. He began his career at the Almeida Theatre in London where he worked closely with Artistic Director Pierre Audi to secure funding for the Almeida International Festival of Contemporary Music and Performance. In New York, he was a member of the team at performance and visual art company GAle GAtes et al. in DUMBO during a period of rapid growth, while simultaneously securing major grants in the formative years of the Lincoln Center Festival.
Forrest Wu, Assistant to the Artistic Director/CEO
A Chicago area native, Forrest graduated from Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music in May 2012 with a Bachelor's degree in viola performance. As the assistant to the Artistic Director/CEO, he organizes travel logistics, financial data, and scheduling, acts as a switchboard between administrative staff, artists, collaborators and the public, and gets to hang with Claire on the regular.
