American composer (born 1977)
Mason Wesley Bates
[1] (born January 23, 1977)
[2]
[3] is a
Grammy award-winning
[4]
American composer of
symphonic music and
DJ of
electronic dance music . He is the first composer-in-residence of the
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts , and he has also been in residence with
Chicago Symphony Orchestra , the
San Francisco Symphony , the
Pittsburgh Symphony , and the
California Symphony . In addition to his notable works
Mothership ,
Anthology of Fantastic Zoology , and
The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs , he composed the score to
Gus Van Sant 's film
The Sea of Trees . In a 2018 survey of American orchestras, he was rated the second-most performed living composer.
[5]
Life
Bates was born in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , and raised in
Richmond, Virginia ,
[6] and
Newtown, Virginia , where his family homestead and farm is located.
[7] He exhibited an early interest in
creative writing at
St. Christopher's School and received a letter from the Mayor of
Munich in response to his poem The Village of a Million People , written after a visit to the
German city.
[8] His earliest choral compositions were conducted by his piano teacher Hope Armstrong Erb, and he studied composition with
Dika Newlin , who was a student of
Arnold Schoenberg .
[9]
During the summer of 1993 at
Brevard Music Center , Bates' music caught the attention of conductor Robert Moody, who subsequently commissioned his first symphonic work Free Variations for Orchestra for his orchestra in
Evansville, Indiana .
[10] Bates subsequently attended the
Columbia University -
Juilliard School program and earned a
Bachelor of Arts in
English literature and
Masters of Music in
music composition .
[11] He studied music composition with
John Corigliano ,
David Del Tredici , and
Samuel Adler ,
[12] while also studying
playwriting with
Arnold Weinstein .[
citation needed ]
In 2001, Bates relocated to the
Bay Area and studied under Edmund Campion in the
Center for New Music and Audio Technologies at the
University of California, Berkeley and graduated in 2008 with a
PhD in composition.
[13] He worked around that time as a
DJ and
techno artist under the name Masonic in clubs and lounges of
San Francisco .
[14]
[15] [
citation needed ] In that year, with conductor
Benjamin Schwartz and visual designer
Anne Patterson , he founded Mercury Soul, a San Francisco-based
non-profit organization that mounts club shows combining
classical music and
DJ sets in clubs.
[16] He concurrently lived in Rome 2003-2004 as the recipient of The Rome Prize from the
American Academy in Rome
[17] as well as in Berlin in 2005 as recipient of the Berlin Prize from the
American Academy in Berlin .
[12] In 2014 he joined the Composition faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
[18]
[19] He currently lives in
Burlingame, California .
[7] [
needs update ]
Career
Bates showed an early interest in bridging the worlds of
electronic and
symphonic music , premiering his Concerto for Synthesizer in 1999 with the
Phoenix Symphony and subsequently performing it with the
Atlanta Symphony .
[20] Robert Moody premiered that work in addition to
Rusty Air in Carolina . He gained national attention in 2007 with
Liquid Interface , a water symphony commissioned by the
National Symphony Orchestra under
Leonard Slatkin , who premiered several works by Bates including Violin Concerto for
Anne Akiko Meyers .
Bates has spoken about his symphonies as a revival of the narrative symphonies of the 19th century using 21st-century sounds,
[21] as exhibited by his 2018 symphony Art of War . The piece "explores the drama of human conflict" using field recordings of mortar and artillery explosions made during two visits to Camp Pendleton, as well as recordings of the printing presses of the
US Mint which appear in the work's opening movement 'Money as a weapons system' .
[22]
Some of his works do not include electronic sounds, such as Resurrexit, which was commissioned by
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in celebration of
Manfred Honeck 's 60th birthday.
[23]
[24] Honeck conducted its premiere in 2018.
[25]
A long partnership with the
San Francisco Symphony began with the 2009 premiere of
The B-Sides under
Michael Tilson Thomas , who subsequently conducted several works by Bates with the
YouTube Symphony . The latter premiered
Mothership at the
Sydney Opera House in 2011 to an online audience of two million,
[26] and the work has become one of the most-performed orchestral works by a living composer. Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony recorded three Bates works during the Beethoven & Bates Festival of 2017, earning a
Grammy nomination for
Best Orchestral Performance . That same year also saw a nomination for
Best Contemporary Classical Composition for his
Alternative Energy for the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra , where Bates was named
composer-in-residence from 2010 to 2015.
Film projects began in 2015 with the score for
Gus Van Sant 's film
The Sea of Trees , starring
Matthew McConaughey ,
Naomi Watts and
Ken Watanabe .
[14]
[27]
While gaining national prominence for his
electro-acoustic symphonic music, Bates began experimenting with concert format in his curating projects in partnership with institutions such as the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the
Kennedy Center .
[28] Through his club show Mercury Soul, Bates became familiar with lighting, production, and staging techniques that create fluid, information-rich environments in social settings. With composer
Anna Clyne , Bates expanded the Chicago Symphony's MusicNOW series to include cinematic program notes, immersive production, and pre- and post-concert parties in partnership with the illmeasures DJ collective.
[29] After his residency with the CSO, Bates was named the first
composer-in-residence of the
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in
Washington, D.C. , where he launched the new-music series KC Jukebox .
[30]
[31] The series animates venues across the center, pairing classical ensembles and composers with artists outside the field, such as
Thievery Corporation and the composers Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein of the
Netflix series
Stranger Things .
[14]
His first
opera ,
The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs , was premiered in 2017 by the
Santa Fe Opera , which added a performance to accommodate the high demand after selling out all seven performances. General Director
Charles MacKay announced that it was one of the best-selling new works in its history,
[32] and Santa Fe Opera's recording on
Pentatone Records went on to win the 2019
Grammy® for Best Opera Recording . Co-commissioners include
San Francisco Opera ,
Seattle Opera , and
Indiana University . The Libretto was written by
Mark Campbell .
In 2018, the
Metropolitan Opera announced the commission of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay , with music by Bates and libretto by Gene Scheer.
[33]
[34] The opera is based on the
Pulitzer Prize -winning
novel with the same name by
Michael Chabon about a
Jewish
immigrant who writes
comic books to earn enough money to save his family from the
Holocaust .
In November 2019,
Vulcan Productions announced details about World’s Greatest Synth: The Making of the Orchestra (later retitled Philharmonia Fantastique: The Making of the Orchestra
[35] ), a 25-minute
multimedia work integrating
film ,
animation and
pre-recorded sound with a live
orchestra . It was co-commissioned by the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra ,
San Francisco Symphony ,
Dallas Symphony Orchestra ,
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and
National Symphony Orchestra . The work is a collaboration between Bates and
director and
sound designer
Gary Rydstrom of
Lucasfilm and
Skywalker Sound , as well as
animator
Jim Capobianco of Aerial Contrivance Workshop. Philharmonia Fantastique is a 'guide to the orchestra' with a script by Bates and Rydstrom (the director of the film), and an
electro-acoustic
symphonic score by Bates.
[36]
[37]
[38] It was set to be premiered by Chicago Symphony Orchestra with guest conductor
Edwin Outwater in March 26–28 in 2020, marking the 100th-
anniversary celebration of the 1919 founding of the CSO School and Family Matinee Concerts series by
Frederick Stock , CSO's second music director.
[39] However, the premiere was cancelled as a response to the
COVID-19 pandemic .
[40] Its
West Coast premiere in April 16–18 in the same year by the
San Francisco Symphony
[41]
[42] was postponed for the same reason.
[43] The
Dallas Symphony Orchestra ,
Pittsburgh
Symphony Orchestra , and
National
Symphony Orchestra also plan to perform Philharmonia Fantastique in their 2020–21 season,
[35] after which it will be made available for rental as a 'film in concert' package.
Awards
Composer-in-residence
Compositions
Symphonic works
Art of War , for orchestra and electronics (2018)
Resurrexit , for orchestra (2018)
Children of Adam , songs of creation for orchestra and chorus (2017)
Sideman , for band and percussion (2016)
Auditorium , for orchestra (2016)
Anthology of Fantastic Zoology , for orchestra (2015)
[54]
Cello Concerto , for cello and orchestra (2014)
[55]
Devil's Radio , for orchestra (2014)
Garages of the Valley , for orchestra (2014)
The Rise of Exotic Computing , for sinfonietta and laptop (2013)
Attack Decay Sustain Release , fanfare for orchestra (2013)
Violin Concerto , for orchestra and violin (2012)
[56]
Alternative Energy , for orchestra and electronica (2011)
[57]
Mothership , for orchestra and electronica (2011)
[58]
Desert Transport , for orchestra (2010)
Sea-Blue Circuitry , for orchestra or band (2010)
Mainframe Tropics , for orchestra (2010)
The B-Sides , for orchestra and electronica (2009)
[59]
Music from Underground Spaces , for orchestra and electronica (2008)
Liquid Interface (2007)
[60]
[61]
[62]
Rusty Air in Carolina , for orchestra and electronica (2006)
[63]
White Lies for Lomax (2009)
[64]
Omnivorous Furniture , for sinfonietta and electronica (2004)
Ode , prelude to the Beethoven 9th for orchestra (2001)
Icarian Rhapsody , for string orchestra (1999)
Undistant , for orchestra (2021)
Philharmonia Fantastique , for orchestra and animated film (2022)
Operatic works
Chamber
Shenandoah , for solo violin (2019)
Carbide and Carbon , for cello ensemble (2013)
Difficult Bamboo , for Pierrot ensemble and percussion (2013)
Bagatelles , for string quartet and electronica (2012)
Stereo is King , for three percussionists and tape (2011)
The Life of Birds , for flute, clarinet, violin, and cello (2008)
White Lies for Lomax , for piano solo (2007)
Red River , for violin, clarinet, cello, piano, and electronics (2007)
Digital Loom , for organ and electronics (2005)
From Amber Frozen , for string quartet (2004)
String Band , for piano trio (2002)
Mercury Soul , for clarinet and piano (2002)
Vocal works
Children of Adam , songs of creation for orchestra and chorus (2018)
[67]
Drum-Taps , for choir (2017)
[68]
[69]
Passage , for mezzo-soprano and orchestra (2017)
Mass Transmission , for organ, electronics, and chorus (2012)
[70]
[71]
[72]
Observer in a Magellanic Cloud , for chorus (2009)
Sirens , for 12-part a cappella chorus (2009)
Film scores
Discography
American Masters – Violin Concerto (Entertainment One Music, 2014)
Riccardo Muti Conducts Mason Bates and Anna Clyne – Alternative Energy (CSO Resound, 2014)
Stereo is King (Innova Recordings, 2014)
Digital Loom'' (MSR Classics, 2009)
Scrapyard Exotica (
Sono Luminus DSL-92193) by Del Sol String Quartet (2015)
Works for Orchestra (
San Francisco Symphony ) by San Francisco Symphony (2016)
Anthology of Fantastic Zoology (
CSO Resound ) by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (2016)
The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs (Pentatone) by Santa Fe Opera (2018)
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External links
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