B.Mus. in Composition, Oberlin College Conservatory of Music (1983)
B.S. in Physics (?), Oberlin College (1983)
Graduate studies at Northwestern University

Studied composition with Richard Hoffman

Fred Chance wrote chamber music, poetry and theatre pieces.

His bloom (1985) for soprano, violin, cello and piano was performed in 1999 at Oberlin Conservatory in a special concert honoring longtime faculty member Richard Hoffman, with whom Chance had studied composition. The work uses a text from James Joyce's Ulysses. "Joyce's text...depicts a wonderfully coloristic scene expounding upon, among many other things, the sounds of horses's hooves. Chance then further expands on Joyce's rhythmic coloration of the text, and what results is a delightfully bizarre rhythmic playground." (program note by Tony Arnold, soprano).

His theatre piece Jar was produced at the Cleveland Public Theatre in 1989.

Chance recited his own poems in performance; some were published in the Cleveland City Times shortly before his death.

His poem "Positive Thinking" formed the basis for a piece by the same title for alto flute and tape by the composer Anne Deane, a longtime friend. Deane used a computer to combine Chance's taped reading of the poem with the sound of the flute so that the flute seems to speak the words. Positive Thinking was commissioned by flutist Betsy Cuffel and performed by her at the National Flute Conference in Boston in 1993.

Less than a month before his death, Chance recited "Positive Thinking" as a prelude to a performance of Deane's composition at Oberlin Conservatory.

Fred Chance died of AIDS in Cleveland at the age of 33 on December 5, 1993.

—Nurit Tilles

WORKS:

bloom
for: soprano, violin, cello and piano
date: 1985
text: from James Joyce's Ulysses
performed: Antoinette Arnold, soprano, Erica Decker, violin, Kivie Cahn-Lipman, cello, Mark Barden, piano, Paul Polivnick, conductor, Oberlin Conservatory, Oberlin, OH 12/8/99 (concert honoring faculty member Richard Hoffman)

Jar
Theatre piece
Produced at Cleveland Public Theatre (1989)

A Talisman for Janus
for: large wind ensemble
date: 1983
note: Thesis for B.Mus. degree. "May be played by a large symphonic or concert band."

OTHER WORKS:

Positive Thinking
Music by Anne Deane
Text by Fred Chance
for: alto flute and tape
date: 1993
duration: ca. 8:00
premiere (East Coast): Betsy Cuffel, National Flute Conference, Boston, MA 1993;
performed: Oberlin Conservatory, Oberlin, OH 1993
note: "The piece can be performed on either alto or regular flute; the tape is available from the composer in both DAT and cassette formats. The voices on the tape were generated from Mr. Chance's narration of the poem…"
recorded: Betsy Cuffel, flute, Anne Deane: Crossings, Innova CD 519 (1999)

UNCOMPLETED WORKS:
Unknown

WRITINGS:
Poems include "Positive Thinking," which formed the basis for Anne Deane's 1993 composition Positive Thinking (see Other Works).

DISCOGRAPHY:
No professionally released recordings

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• Obituary, Plain Dealer (Cleveland), December 10, 1993.
• Article about Oberlin performance of Positive Thinking (includes all or part of text by Fred Chance): www.timara.con.oberlin.edu/~gnelson/fchance.htm

PERFORMING RIGHTS AFFILIATION:
Unknown

RESOURCES:
Unknown

MUSICAL EXECUTOR:
Unknown

OTHER CONTACTS:
Unknown