Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music

• Home
• About
• Resources
• Composers
• Performances
• 20/21 Ensemble
• Contact Us

Search Pytheas   use Pytheas SiteSearch   need help searching?

Mason Bates (1977-     )

The recipient of both an American Academy in Berlin Fellowship and a Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome, Mason Bates moves fluidly between the worlds of classical concert music and underground electronica. To quote Symphony Magazine, “Mason Bates, or someone like him, was bound to appear sooner or later. Bates is a fast-rising young composer of orchestral music, and also a deejay. In the latter guise, he performs at electronica clubs under the nom-de-laptop DJ Masonic. His electronica has a quasi-classical fluidity, and in his orchestra music, he performs on laptop computer and drum pads as a soloist, eliciting much the same kind of noise grooves that he uses as a deejay. Many artists in one of these worlds have dabbled in the other. But Bates is the first to carry on two careers in tandem, and win credibility in both arenas.”

COMPOSITIONS                                                            Bates Links     ~ ~ ~     Works by Genre    ~ ~ ~    Bates on Bates
Epigram, clarinet and harpsichord (????)
Fugue, piano 4-hands (????)
Sonata No. 1, piano (pub. 1996)
Everywhere West, orchestra (1994)
Three American Poems, song cycle, tenor, flute, oboe and piano (1995)
Sonata No. 2, “Capriccio Americaine”, piano (1995-96)
In Bed, tenor/speaker, flute, horn, bass clarinet, piano and snare drum (1996)
Timor et Tremor, male chorus and organ (1996?)
Trout Fishing in America, music-drama, one actor and five musicians (1997)
Sounds for His Animation, synthesizer and chamber orchestra (1998)
Icarian Rhapsody, string orchestra (1999) [arr. 2001 for orchestra and electronica]
RODEOPTERX, accordion and electronics (2000)
Elements, flute and piano (2000)
Songs From the Plays, song cycle (7 songs), high voice and piano (1999-2001) [text: Kenneth Koch]
Ode, orchestra (2001) ["A retrospective look at the path of the Ode to joy through the ages"]
Mercury Soul, clarinet and piano (2002)
String Band, prepared piano trio (2002)
From Amber Frozen, string quartet (2004)
Omnivorous Furniture, sinfonietta and electronica (2004)
Digital Loom, organ and electonica (2005)
The Locrian Mode, short film score, string quartet (2005) [for film by Eric Lodal]
    - Locrian Mode, electronica (2005?)
California Fictions, opera, with electronica (2006)
Overture to California Fictions, orchestra (2006)
Rusty Air in Carolina, orchestra and electronica (2006)
Liquid Interface, orchestra and electronica (2006)
Red River, violin, clarinet, cello, piano and electronics (2007)
Music From Underground Spaces, orchestra and electronica (2007)
White Lies for Lomax, piano (2007) [also arr. for orchestra, 2009]
The B-Sides, Five Pieces for Orchestra and Electronica (2008)
Seismology, orchestra and electronica (2008)
The Life of Birds, flute, clarinet, violin and cello (2008)
Sirens, cycle in six movements, chorus (2009)
Mercury Interludes, orchestra [and electronica?] (2009?)
    - Mercury Interlude, electronica (????)
    - Mercury Interlude 2, electronica (????)
Blues7, electronica (2009?)
Siren Music, electronica (2009?)
Amber, electronica (2009?)
Rhombus, electronica (2009?)
Desert Transport, orchestra (2010)
Sea-Blue Circuitry, wind ensemble (or or orchestra) (2010)
Sonic Panoply, fanfare for orchestra (2010)
Observer in the Magellanic Cloud, chorus (2010)
Mothership, orchestra and electronica (2011)
Alternative Energy, orchestra and electronica (2011)
Mainframe Tropics, violin, horn and piano (2011?)
Stereo Is King, 3 percussionists and tape (2011)
Violin Concerto (2012)
Bagatelles, string quartet and electronics (2012)
Afterlife, song cycle, mezzo-soprano, orchestra and electronica (2012)
Terricloth Troposphere, electronica (2013?)
Synthetic Lethal, electronica (????)
Tripstart, electronica (2013?)
Attack Decay Sustain Release, fanfare for orchestra (2013)
Difficult Bamboo, sextet [strings, winds, piano, percussion] (2013)


WORKS BY GENRE                                                            Bates Links    ~ ~ ~    Bates on Bates      ~ top of page ~
Dramatic/Theater
Trout Fishing in America, music-drama, one actor and five musicians (1997)
California Fictions, opera, with electronica (2006)

Orchestral
Everywhere West, orchestra (1994)
Sounds for His Animation, synthesizer and chamber orchestra (1998)
Icarian Rhapsody, string orchestra (1999) [arr. 2001 for orchestra and electronica]
Ode, orchestra (2001) ["A retrospective look at the path of the Ode to joy through the ages"]
Omnivorous Furniture, sinfonietta and electronica (2004)
Overture to California Fictions, orchestra (2006)
Rusty Air in Carolina, orchestra and electronica (2006)
    - Nan's Porch
    - Katydid Country
    - Southern Midnight
    - Locusts Singing in the Heat of Dawn
Liquid Interface, orchestra and electronica (2006)
    - Glaciers Calving
    - Scherzo Liquido
    - Crescent City
    - On the Wannsee
Music From Underground Spaces, orchestra and electronica (2007)
    - Tunnels
    - Infernos
    - Crystalline Cities
    - Tectonic Plates
White Lies for Lomax, piano (2007) [also arr. for orchestra, 2009]
The B-Sides, Five Pieces for Orchestra and Electronica (2008)
    - Broom of the System
    - Aerosol Melody (Hanalei)
    - Gemini in the Solar Wind
    - Temescal Noir
    - Warehouse Medicine
Seismology, orchestra and electronica (2008)
Mercury Interludes, orchestra [and electronica?] (2009?)
Desert Transport, orchestra (2010)
    - Dengler's Hangar
    - Sky Ranch
    - Sedona
    - Montezuma's Castle
Sea-Blue Circuitry, wind ensemble (or or orchestra) (2010)
Sonic Panoply, fanfare for orchestra (2010)
Mothership, orchestra and electronica (2011)
Alternative Energy, orchestra and electronica (2011)
    - Ford's Farm, 1896
    - Chicago, 2012
    - Xianjiang Province, 2112
    - Reykjavik, 2222
Attack Decay Sustain Release, fanfare for orchestra (2013)

Band/Wind Ensemble
Sea-Blue Circuitry, wind ensemble (or or orchestra) (2010)
    - Circuits
    - Marine Snow
    - Gigawatt Greyhound

Soloist(s) w/Orchestra
Violin Concerto (2012)

Choral
Timor et Tremor, male chorus and organ (1996?)
Sirens, cycle in six movements, chorus (2009)
    - from The Odyssey (book XII) [text: Homer]
    - Die Lorelei [text: Heinrich Heine]
    - Stelle, vostra mercè l'eccelse sfere [text: Pietro Aretino]
    - Sirinu nuqa rikuni a [text: native Quechua]
    - from The book of Matthew [text: The Bible]
    - from The Odyssey (book XII) [text: Homer]
Observer in the Magellanic Cloud, chorus (2010)

Chamber
String Band, prepared piano trio (2002)
From Amber Frozen, string quartet (2004)
Red River, violin, clarinet, cello, piano and electronics (2007)
    - The Continental Divide
    - Interstate 70
    - Zuni Visions from the Canyon Walls
    - Hoover Slates Vegas
    - Running Dry on the Sonoran Floor
The Life of Birds, flute, clarinet, violin and cello (2008)
    - Moving Parts
    - Parakeet Daydream
    - The Caged Bird Sings
    - On a Wire: Mating Dance
    - Old World Flycatcher
    - Moving Parts
Mainframe Tropics, violin, horn and piano (2011?)
    - Silicon Blues
    - Marine Snow
    - Steeplechase
Stereo Is King, 3 percussionists and tape (2011)
Bagatelles, string quartet and electronics (2012)
    - Rough Math
    - Scrapyard exotica
    - Mating Dance
    - Viscera
Difficult Bamboo, sextet [strings, winds, piano, percussion] (2013)

Instrument and Piano/Harpsichord
Epigram, clarinet and harpsichord (????)
Elements, flute and piano (2000)
    - Earth
    - Water
    - Air
    - Fire
Mercury Soul, clarinet and piano (2002)

Solo Instrument
RODEOPTERX, accordion and electronics (2000)

Piano
Fugue, piano 4-hands (????)
Sonata No. 1, piano (pub. 1996)
Sonata No. 2, “Capriccio Americaine”, piano (1995-96)
Digital Loom, organ and electonica (2005)
White Lies for Lomax, piano (2007)

Vocal
Three American Poems, song cycle, tenor, flute, oboe and piano (1995)
In Bed, tenor/speaker, flute, horn, bass clarinet, piano and snare drum (1996) [text: Kenneth Koch - From Days and Nights]
Songs From the Plays, song cycle (7 songs), high voice and piano (1999-2001) [text: Kenneth Koch]
    - You want a social life, with friends
    - Bring back the beds
    - They say Prince Hamlet's found a southern island
    - There isn't time enough, my friends
    - This dancing man was one the pope
    - When I was a young woman
    - This dancing man was one the pope (reprise)
    - Homer nightly went to banquets
    - Your genius made me shiver
    - What makes this statue noble seeming
    - You want a social life, with friends
Afterlife, song cycle, mezzo-soprano, orchestra and electronica (2012)
    - I. From Those Left Behind
        - A Shade upon the mind there passes [text: Emily Dickinson]
        - Loved One [text: Judith Wolf]
        - Eva Died [text: Judith Wolf]
        - Too Many Poems About Dead Friends [text: Judith Wolf]
        - ‘Tis not that Dying hurts us so [text: Emily Dickinson]
    - II. Bittersweet
        - It’s easy to invent a Life [text: Emily Dickinson]
        - Don’t Let Them Throw Away the Clothes [text: Judith Wolf]
    - III. From Those Departed
        - After Death [text: Chiristina Rosetti]
        - I heard a Fly buzz - when I died [text: Emily Dickinson]

Film
The Locrian Mode, short film score, string quartet (2005) [for film by Eric Lodal]

Electronic
Sounds for His Animation, synthesizer and chamber orchestra (1998)
RODEOPTERX, accordion and electronics (2000)
Omnivorous Furniture, sinfonietta and electronica (2004)
Digital Loom, organ and electonica (2005)
Locrian Mode, electronica (2005?)
Mercury Interlude, electronica (????) (2009?)
Mercury Interlude 2, electronica (????) (2009?)
Blues7, electronica (2009?)
Siren Music, electronica (2009?)
Amber, electronica (2009?)
Rhombus, electronica (2009?)
Terricloth Troposphere, electronica (2013?)
Synthetic Lethal, electronica (????)
Tripstart, electronica (2013?)


BATES LINKS                                                            Works by Genre    ~ ~ ~    Bates on Bates     ~ top of page ~
Brilliance in the Air: Rusty Air in California (San Fransisco Classical Voice)
Classic and Electronic Collide At Upcoming Mercury Soul (Rajesh Srinivasan, The Daily Californian)
Classical Wiz Mason Bates Doubles as a Techno DJ (Larry Kelp, Oakland Magazine)
Concerto for Two Universes (Donna Perlmutter, Los Angeles Times)
Double Duty DJ (Emily Parkhurst, The Phoenix)
First String Laptop (Styleweekly.com, Richmond, VA)
Liquid Interface (Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music)
Mason Bates and Anne Patterson:  Mercury Soul: An Electro-Acoustic Evening  (Creative Capital)
Mason Bates Creates a 'Liquid Interface' Between Electronica and Classical Music (NewsVOA)
Mason Bates Joins California Symphony as Composer in Residence (Georgia Rowe, Oakland Tribune)
Mercury Soul Merges Visual Art with Classical Music and Contemporary Electronica (Ezra Gale, SFweekly.com)
Opera Electronica (@ media.mit)
SFist Interviews Benjamin Shwartz: Mercury Soul (SFist)
When Worlds Collide, and Boundaries Fall (Brett Campbell, San Fransisco Classical Voice)

Composer's website    . . .   contact Mason Bates:  here

Bates @ Wikipedia
Bates @ American Mavericks
Bates @ Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music
Bates @ Center for New Music & Audio Technologies, UC Berkeley
Bates @ Classical Archives
Bates @ Cultural District
Bates @ Bill Holab Music
Bates @ The Kennedy Center
Bates @ MySpaceMusic
Bates @ The New York Times
Bates @ NPRmusic (via Google Advanced Search)
Bates @ Opus 3 Artists
Bates @ Young Concert Artists

Publisher
Bates @ Aphra Music
Bates @ Bill Holab Music

Streaming Audio
Bates @ Composer's website  -  check under individual work listings
Bates @ Classical Archives
Bates @ last.fm
Bates @ MySpaceMusic
Bates @ NPRmusic
Bates @ Rhapsody.com
Bates @ SoundCloud

Recordings
Bates @ Amazon.com
Bates @ ArkivMusic
Bates @ CD Universe
Bates @ ClassicsOnline
Bates @ Discogs
Bates @ itunes

Video
Bates @ YouTube
Bates @ Google Video
Bates @ Vimeo (via Google Search)
                                                                                                                                                                           ~ top of page ~
Bates on Bates: Electronic Symphonies/film by Michael Markowski (VIDEO)






Bates on Bates: YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 (VIDEO)






Bates on Bates: w/Leonard Slatkin and Richard Danielpour/WNYC (VIDEO)