| American/New Music
composer/pianist/educator Claire Ritter continues to innovate
with vision and accomplishment. Early piano study began
with Ziggy Hurwitz and Anita B. Tritt of Queens University,
Charlotte, NC. Her graduate studies include work with the
late jazz legend Mary Lou Williams at Duke University and
McArthur Genius Award recipient Ran Blake at New England
Conservatory. Dean Smith of the Charlotte Observer recently
described her work as "gemlike"
and "indescribably American". New York Cadence magazine
describes her as a "visionary calm". Her music represents
an artistic quality which weaves a unique blend of classical-jazz
styles into one of distinction.
While living in Boston for over fifteen years,
Claire Ritter has established a career which includes numerous
recordings, in addition to performances by well known worldwide
artists, such as Dave Holland, Ran Blake, Ricky Ford, Houston
Person, Dominique Eade, Steve Swallow and many others. Her
compositions have been recorded on Zoning Recordings, founded
in Boston, and European labels such as Soul Note and Hat Art,
as well as performed internationally, including Canada, Europe,
and Asia. New England Conservatory, where she founded her
Contemporary Songwriting class, has hailed her compositions
as "a music which lends itself to a vast array of interpretations
which is reminiscent of Duke Ellington's music." Boston
Globe critic Fernando Gonzalez calls her "an artist to
watch", and Bob McCullough of the Boston Globe says this
of her music, "... as articulated in a body of work that
now emcompases nine albums, the musical truths of Claire Ritter
are both playful and challenging, cerebral as well as heartfelt,
forward-looking rather than rooted in the past...these qualities
are rare in music today".
Click here for Claire's Wikipedia page.
Click here for Claire's allmusic.com bio.
Other compositional performances/workshops include:
* Ottawa Jazz Festival
* New England Conservatory Jazz-Third Stream Festival
* Josef Matthias Haur Konservatorium
* Osterreichischen Museum
* Brandeis University
* University of North Carolina
* Queens University
* Festival of Women Improvisers, Boston
* Multicultural Arts Center, Boston
* Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance
* Stockbridge Music Series, Massachusetts
* Berkley School of Music
* Longy School of Music
* American Women Composers
* Club Passim, Cambridge
Claire Ritter is the recipient
of a 2006 Arts and Science Regional Artist Grant; 2001
'Composers Charlotte’ Grassroots
Grant as Artist Director/Queens University, 2000 NC Arts
Council Jazz Composers Fellowship, and 2000 Arts and Science
Regional Artist Grant.
Grant information is available through ncarts.org and artsandscience.org (Charlotte).
Additional grants/awards include
the Massachusetts Arts Lottery in Boston, and the Southern
Arts Federation in Atlanta, Georgia. Claire Ritter is also the founder of
the Ziggy Hurwitz Jazz Scholarship at Central Piedmont
Community College in Charlotte, NC.
Claire
Ritter teaches and composes in Charlotte, North Carolina,
where she is the Artistic Director Composers Concert at
Queens University.
Contact: Claire
Ritter Studio, (704) 321-0708, (704) 372-5008.
DISCOGRAPHY
- 2011
NEW RELEASE -
The Stream of Pearls Project (inspired by water)...Zoning Recordings:
ZR 1010
Guests Ashima Scripp (cello), Richie Stearns (banjo), Toni Naples & Rick Hansen (accordion 1+2), Jon Metzger (vibraphone), Takaaki Masuko (percussion/drums)
2007-2008
Waltzing the Splendor...............Zoning Recordings:
ZR 1009
featuring
Four Jazz Serenades for Georgia O’Keeffe,
Opus 23. Guests: Jon Metzger, Jane Hart Brendle,
Ashima Scripp, Dave Holland
Greener than
Blue................Zoning Recordings:
ZR 1008
featuring Opus 21: World Poems for Peace
Guests: Stan Strickland, Todd Low, Bob Weiner
River Of Joy ............................
Zoning Recordings (2001): ZR1007
Solo Portraits w/Claire Ritter, Dave Holland, Ran Blake, Steve
Swallow
Castles in the Air .....................
Zoning Recordings (2001): ZR1006
Featuring Steve Swallow and the NEW SOUTHERN SYMPHONIC SUITE
For Modern Dance Opus 17, produced by Claire Ritter and Takaaki
Masuko
True ..........................................
Zoning Recordings (1998): ZR1005
w/ Kaku Sato and Takaaki Masuko
At
One ..................................... Zoning Recordings
(1994): ZR 1004
w/ Takaaki Masuko
Mistral w/Eleni Odoni ............. Zoning
Recordings (1991): ZR1003
Ain't Life A Circus ........................
Zoning Recordings (1991): ZR1002
w/ Stan Strickland
In Between ..............................
Zoning Recordings (1988): ZR1001
w/ Dave Holland and Ran Blake
Claire Ritter compositions and CD recordings by others:
JazzSouth (documentary, interview) Southern Arts Federation
(1992) #3
Orte Der Geometrie (Franz Kloglman)
Hat Art Recordings (1989): 6018
Short Life of Barbara Monk (Ran
Blake) Soul Note Recordings (1986): 1127
Documentary Films:
"Streaming" (music score) : Department of Third
Stream Studies,
New England Conservatory, Boston, MA (1991)
"Claire Ritter" (documentary), Babson College: Documentary
Wellesley, MA (1991)
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