Linda J. Chase

inda J. Chase is a composer, ecophilosopher, and flutist. Her music weaves elements of chamber music, jazz and contemporary improvisation with spoken word and interdisciplinary arts. She has received composition awards from places including the Japan Foundation, Grand Canyon National Park, Kaji Aso Studio, the Morris Graves Institute, Berklee College of Music, Studio Red Top and ASCAP. She is an active member of Landscape Music Composers Network. Linda was born in La Jolla, California and currently resides in the Boston area. ​ Professor Chase currently teaches composition, performance, music and spirituality, ecomusicology, and interdisciplinary arts at Berklee College of Music, and is also an instructor in Contemporary Improvisation at New England Conservatory. Chase is certified through Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to lead Deep Listening workshops, founded by Pauline Oliveros.

​In 2016 - 2017, Chase served as composer in residence at the Old Cambridge Baptist Church where she collaborated with Reverend Dr. Harvey G. Cox to create The City is Burning. This multi-media oratorio based on multi-faith sacred texts contemplates how the arts can build community, nurture compassion and deepen awareness that inspires action.

In 2012, she was Artist in Residence at Grand Canyon National Park and created Grand Canyon Sketches for string quartet and voice. Her other major compositions include Poetic Reflections, a musical journey based on the works of 13th century poet Jelaluddin Balkhi (Rumi). Her award-winning piece, Tanabata Star Festival, was based on poetry by artist, poet, and singer Kaji Aso and the Japanese legend.

Hope is the Hardest Love We Carry a chamber composition by Linda J. Chase, features poet Jane Hirshfield reading her poetry. This piece also incorporates translations by Hirshfield and Mariko Aratani of thousand-year-old poems by Izumi Shikibu and Ono no Komachi. The music was composed following Chase’s Japan Foundation residency that happened to coincide with the 3/11/11 Great East Japan earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster.

She received her Ph.D. from Prescott College in 2017. Her dissertation, "Contemplative Ecoaesthetics Through Musical Arts: Reflection, Resonance, and Resilience" explores an approach to environmental and social justice education through a pedagogy of listening. She received her master's degree in Contemporary Improvisation from New England Conservatory, an Artist Diploma in Jazz Composition from Berklee College of Music, and her bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Arts from the Evergreen State College in Olympia Washington.

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