Growing up in the lakefront suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, Lauren Chipman has performed both classical and pop throughout the United States and abroad. Thrilled to be touring and recording as violist with the new wave/pop group The Rentals, Lauren now calls Los Angeles home. From that West Coast base, she has also recorded for Joe Cocker, Rosie Thomas and Redcar, toured with Andrea Bocelli, Barry Manilow, Devotchka, Donna Summer and Marco Antonio Solis as well as appeared in music videos for Three Doors Down and Yellowcard. Recently, Lauren performed with Justin Timberlake at the 2007 Grammys.
Lauren’s classical training is extensive with viola performances that span solo, symphony and chamber music appearances.
Chamber Music
As a chamber musician, she is a founding member of the Los Angeles-based Armstrong String Quartet, an ensemble that completed its first international tour in the summer of 2005 to sold-out festival audiences in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Loire Valley, France. Lauren’s other chamber music appearances have included performing with Midori as 1st violist in the Brahms String Sextet Op. 18 No. 1 at Zipper Hall as part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic chamber series.
While only a senior in high school, an invitation by the late Isaac Stern to his 2001 Chamber Workshop in New York City made Lauren’s piano quartet, Favrile, the youngest ensemble to train at the workshop with a concert appearance at Carnegie Hall. In national competitions, her ensembles have placed as finalists in such venues as the Coleman Competition, won first prize in Chicago’s 1998 Rembrandt Chamber Players competition and competed as semi-finalists in the Aberdeen 1998 International Chamber Competition in Scotland.
Orchestral work
Her orchestral work includes performances with the New West Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She is former Principal Viola of the USC Symphony and Chamber Orchestras as well as the American Youth Symphony in Los Angeles. Awarded full fellowships, she has attended Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara as well as both the Sarasota and Aspen Music Festivals. In 2003 and 1999, she performed with the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall on Christmas Eve.
Solo appearances
Recent solo appearances have featured Lauren performing with the American Youth Symphony in a 2006 concert at UCLA Royce Hall in Los Angeles, and in the fall of 2005 she debuted the American Premiere of Elegia for Viola Solo by Marta Ptaszynska at Newman Recital Hall in Los Angeles.
A laureate in numerous solo viola competitions, Lauren won the Jack Smith Memorial Award for Most Promising Talent at the 2002 Pasadena Showcase and First Prize in the Chicago Viola Society Competition. Selected as one of only six high school string players nationally in 2001, she was a NFAA finalist and ARTS scholarship winner. Lauren has been featured on NPRs From the Top national radio broadcasts twice and recorded the Viola Solo for Encyclopaedia Britannica’s 1999 interactive CD-Rom.
A recent graduate of the University of Southern California, Lauren received a Bachelors Degree in Music Performance from the USC Thornton School of Music where she studied with renowned viola professor Donald McInnes, himself a student of William Primrose. She performs and records on an Italian Della Corte viola from 1850 and tours with The Rentals on an amplified, acoustic replica created for her in 2006 by Chicago string-instrument maker Michael Becker.
~What the Press is Saying~
“While both (touring) bands seemed to have a number of fans in the audience, it was clear from new Rental Lauren Chipman’s first few notes on the viola who the audience was there to see….The Rentals†~Ground Control review Great American Music Hall show/San Francisco, CA 8/06/07
“Last Little Life starts with ‘The Last Romantic Day,’ a smooth, moody song that pulls you in with the opening chorus of viola…and ‘Life Without A Brain’ starts big with a beautiful play between Ben’s trombone and Lauren’s viola…†~The Rockit/LA’s Only Rock & Roll Newspaper July 2007
“…the members are also great musicians. I was watching them bounce around from instrument to instrument all night, and the addition of Lauren Chipman’s viola was like a cherry on top of the delicious sundae I like to call The Rentals.†~MTV.com yourhereblog review Spaceland residency shows/Los Angeles, CA 7/23/07
“Neo-new wave indie rock band The Rentals features classically trained violist Lauren Chipman. ~Wikipedia Viola: The Viola in Popular Music 2007
"The Rentals were truly sublime,... but our attention was drawn to and held by violist Lauren Chipman."~ Seattlest July 27, 2006
"The band did their part, with Lauren Chipman looping her viola into an increasingly beautiful baroque swirl."
~ The Daily Californian July 27, 2006
"The set opened with new Rental Lauren Chipman playing some cool-ass layered viola parts over herself, while each member except Sharp slowly joined her onstage and added to her sound collage The Rentals youngest member (at 23 years old), Lauren Chipman, did a nice job of filling Donna Matthews sexy-but-playful shoes on Two Brains."~ Local Cut Portlands Music Journal July 27, 2006
"Lauren Chipman filled in nicely on viola and vocals for the show stopper, Waiting."
~ DCist August 7, 2006
THE RENTALS
Seminal neo-new wave pioneers The Rentals embarked on a 2007 headlining tour with a 44-city seven-week schedule to promote the release of their "Last Little Life" EP. Following the extensive tour schedule, The Rentals have returned to the studio in Los Angeles to complete work on a third album expected early in 2008.
The bands debut album Return of The Rentals (1995) brilliantly incorporated Moog synthesizers, boy/girl harmonies, soaring violins all rolled into sweet and simple pop songs. Their single "Friends Of P." (.. 6 on Billboards Modern Rock Chart) broke through The Billboard Hot 100 and into MTVs Buzz Bin reviving elements of new wave and bringing the analog synthesizer back to the forefront of pop music. The band supported Return Of The Rentals by going on the road with such well known acts as Garbage, Blur, Alanis Morrisette and The Red Hot Chili Peppers.
The bands sophomore effort Seven More Minutes was an open love letter to Barcelona and the European music scene. The critically heralded follow up featured a whirlwind of collaborators including members of Blur, Elastica, Lush, Weezer and Ash.
