Charity Chan: biography

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actuelleradio

Charity Chan

• composer • performer (piano, prepared piano, voice)

— member of: Fenaison

Charity Chan’s live performances focus on the evocation of alternative timbres from the piano, and the combination of these sounds with more traditional performance techniques. The immediacy of physical gesture and collaborative communication are also strong influences in her improvisations. While her creative work is primarily in contemporary improvised music, she has also worked and studied extensively in the classical and contemporary classical idioms.

Charity has performed throughout Canada and in the United States. Collaborations include: Lori Freedman, Anthony Martin, Steve Bagnell, Dave Chokroun, John Heward, Damon Smith, Gino Robair, Simon Rose, Fred Frith, Maggie Nichols, Frank Gratkowski, John Heward, Jean Derome, Isaiah Ceccarelli, Nicolas Caloia, Joane Hétu, Danielle Palardy Roger, Jack Wright.

As a member of the trio Fenaison (Kris Covlin, saxophones; Rémy Bélanger de Beauport, amplified cello), she is an Ambiances Magnétiques recording artist. She is also a performer on the upcoming CD of music by José Maceda, released on Tzadik in 2007. She has toured throughout the United States and Canada and has conducted several group workshops in improvisation. May of 2007, she debuted at The Stone in New York City with the Ensemble SuperMusique and the Wondeur Quartet.

Having earned a Bachelor of Music degree (piano) from McGill University (Montréal, QC), she is currently completing a Master of Fine Arts degree in Contemporary Improvisation at Mills College on full scholarship.

Charity organized the inaugural “Free Improvisation Series Masterclass and Concert Series” at McGill University and has worked as the Contemporary Performance Ensemble and Music Improvisation Ensemble coordinator at Mills College (under the direction of Steed Cowart and Fred Frith respectively).

Her academic research approaches music from a socio-cultural perspective, and focuses on embodiment, ethics and legitimacy, and cultural memory in improvisation. She is a member of the International Society of Improvising Musicians and the American Musicological Society. Her academic work has been presented at the Guelph Jazz Festival Colloquium (University of Guelph), the International Society for Improvised Music (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), University of British Columbia, and the University of Kansas.

[ix-07]

Charity Chan: biography

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