Claire Chase (left) and Rebekah Heller of ICE. Photo credit: Sara Mayti
The Aviary: I read somewhere that ICE was born on a Greyhound bus en route from Oberlin to Chicago. What’s that about?
Chase: It's true! We were born on a bus. I was on the Greyhound headed from Oberlin to Chicago right after graduation, and that's when the idea came to me to start ICE. I tend to have "light bulb" moments on planes, trains and automobiles, maybe because time is suspended when you are in these spaces, metaphorically and otherwise. In this case, I was trying to figure out what the hell I was going to do with my life post-school. I was somewhere around Gary, Indiana (cue the song!) when I said to myself "Chase, what the hell are you waiting for? Why don't you get off this bus in Chicago and start this group, stop thinking about it and start doing it?" So that's exactly what I did.
Within a span of a few months ICE is performing at Mostly Mozart (Lincoln Center), Washington D.C., Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, Cologne, Rio, Sau Paolo etc. What do you guys do when you aren’t sleeping?
Heller: With this being such a busy spring and summer travel-wise, we're lucky we like each other so much! We spend a lot of time on the road, but when were here, we're practicing and preparing for the next big thing. There's no real break for us between our residency at the Mostly Mozart Festival this summer and the start of our 2012-2013 season in September, so we're always looking forward.
Chase: Truth be told, we party a lot. We work hard, we play hard. I sort of can't have one without the other.
Did you always gravitate towards new music, or was the a period of your life when you were into say, Beethoven?
Chase: For me, music is music. I gravitate to Beethoven as much as I gravitate to Furrer. And I start and end every day with Bach, a magician who is, in my book, the greatest experimental composer living or dead.
Heller: More and more, I think that there is much less of a distinction between old and new than, say, bad and good. I've always loved the excitement of exploring new works, and doing it with people who are so committed to such a high level of music-making, but there's nothing like going back to some of the great classics with fresh eyes. Last summer, we played the Mozart Gran Partita at the Mostly Mozart Festival - this summer, we'll tackle the Schubert Octet.
I was talking to an artist friend of mine, and out of the blue said: “I just saw a concert, and there was a performance by ‘a rock-star bassoonist.’” I discovered he was talking about you. How does it feel to have that label?
Heller: This is awesome! In truth, I can't say it's the first time I've heard that, but it always puts a huge smile on my face.
ICE was awarded a MacArthur grant in 2011. How specifically did this benefit ICE’s creative and artistic work?
Chase: It was a MacArthur International Connections Fund award to specifically support ICE's educational, curatorial, performance and research work in Brazil this summer. We'll be going to Rio, Sao Paulo, and Manaus to give concerts, discover new repertoire, teach kids, work with local composers, and drink caipirinhas galore.
What’s on your I-pod?
Heller: So much! I generally don't listen to classical music (new or old) while I'm out and about. These days it's a lot of slow-tempo 'navel-gazing' music like Royksopp, Sigur Ros, the Radio Department, Iron and Wine, the xx - all great for long plane rides. Favorites will always include Bjork, Liz Phair, Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Ratatat. Robyn is the best for running!
Chase: This morning: Glenn Gould playing Bach Partitas. Laurie Anderson's O Superman. Kate Bush's Mrs. Bartolozzi. Jordi Savall's Purcell arrangements. And a couple of stunning new tracks from Carla Kihlstedt's awesome Rabbit Rabbit Radio series (if you don't know about this series, folks, run don't walk to a computer to sign up for it at $1, $2 or $3 a month: http://rabbitrabbitradio.com/)
What’s your current state of mind?
Chase: Nostalgic.
Heller: Excited!
If you died and came back as a person or thing what would it be?
Heller: A lion.
Chase: A dragonfly.
