composer

Mason Bates (b. January 23, 1977) was raised in Richmond, Virginia, where he attended St. Christopher's School. He graduated from the Columbia University-Juilliard School Exchange Program, with a BA in music composition and English literature, where he studied with John Corigliano, David Del Tredici, and Samuel Adler. In 2008, he received a PhD in composition from the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied with Edmund Campion.

Mason Bates (b. January 23, 1977) was raised in Richmond, Virginia, where he attended St. Christopher's School. He graduated from the Columbia University-Juilliard School Exchange Program, with a BA in music composition and English literature, where he studied with John Corigliano, David Del Tredici, and Samuel Adler. In 2008, he received a PhD in composition from the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied with Edmund Campion.

Bates's music fuses innovative orchestral writing, imaginative narrative forms, the harmonies of jazz and the rhythms of techno. Frequently performed by orchestras large and small, his symphonic music has been the first to receive widespread acceptance for its expanded palette of electronic sounds, and it is championed by leading conductors such as Michael Tilson Thomas, Leonard Slatkin, and John Adams. He has become a visible advocate for bringing new music to new spaces, whether through institutional partnerships such as his residency with the Chicago Symphony, or through his classical/DJ project Mercury Soul, which has transformed spaces ranging from commercial clubs to Frank Gehry-designed concert halls into exciting, hybrid musical events drawing over a thousand people.

This season, Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony premiere Alternative Energy, an 'energy symphony' that spans four movements and hundreds of years. Another major commission, Mass Transmission, receives its premiere in the San Francisco Symphony's Mavericks Festival, and the composer serves as this season's Project San Francisco artist-in-residence at the SFS. The London Symphony Orchestra and Michael Tilson Thomas recently recorded Mothership, and the work was subsequently premiered at the Sydney Opera House by the YouTube Symphony to an online audience of 1.8 million. Appearing on programs from the Detroit Symphony to Portugal's famed Casa da Musica is The B-Sides, a dance suite that drops into five surreal landscapes. Many purely acoustic works complement his diverse catalogue, such as Desert Transport—recently conducted by Marin Alsop at the Cabrillo Festival—and Observer in the Magellanic Cloud, which toured with the superstar chorus Chanticleer. For more info, go to www.masonbates.com.

Performances

Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory | May 17, 2013

News and Press

[Concert Review] New England’s Prospect: Polytropos

Tell me, O Muse, of the generation of many devices, who wandered full many ways. I come to generalize about an entire cohort of composers, based solely—sample size be damned—on the Boston Modern Orchestra Project’s May 17 concert at Jordan Hall. A foolhardy and even dangerous venture, surely? Well, consider it, in part, payback for making me type “Gen OrcXstrated,” which is what BMOP named the program, a collision of letters that I am still not quite sure how to pronounce.

NewMusicBox Full review
[Concert Review] BMOP celebrates youngish composers in season closer

Ah, classical music—where else in our culture can you be in your mid-30s and be celebrated as part of a youth movement?

A small but enthusiastic audience consisting mostly of Baby Boomers and Greatest Generationers cheered on their juniors in New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall Friday as the Boston Modern Orchestra Project led by Gil Rose presented “Gen OrcXstrated,” a program of three works for large orchestra by composers born in the late 1970s.

Boston Classical Review Full review
[Concert Review] The Boston Musical Intelligencer reviews Gen OrcXstrated

Generation X is a term used by demographers to describe the group of people born after the post-World War II baby boom. For much of the term’s history it has tended to be a little pejorative. There are many cultural events that have shaped their identity including the rise of internet culture as well as the emergence of many musical styles and sub genres including electronic and hip hop.

The Boston Musical Intelligencer Full review