Benedict Mason
Benedict Mason (born February 23, 1954 ) is a British composer .
life and work
Mason studied at King's College at the University of Cambridge from 1971 to 1975 , and from 1975 to 1978 he was a student at the Royal College of Art studying film. He did not begin to compose until his early 30s, and his first work ( Hinterstoisser Traverse , 1986) attracted attention within the European new music scene. His early compositions have a penchant for postmodernism , but Mason later developed an interest in polyrhythmic music. In Double Concerto there is a certain stylistic affinity to the later works of György Ligeti . Newer compositions focus on the spatial dimensions of music - for example his series Music for Concert Halls .
Mason composes in different genres. His soccer opera Playing Away , with a libretto by Howard Brenton , was commissioned by the Munich Biennale and premiered in 1994 by Opera North .
In 1992 Mason was awarded the Siemens Music Prize of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.
further reading
- Malcolm Miller: Mason, Benedict. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, supplement for both parts. Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2008, ISBN 978-3-7618-1139-9 ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
- Richard Toop: Mason, Benedict. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
- Benedict Mason in the Munzinger archive , accessed on October 23, 2018 ( beginning of article freely available)
- Michael Kennedy, Joyce Bourne Kennedy: The Oxford Dictionary of Music . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2006, ISBN 0-19-861459-4 .
- Richard Toop: Research, Forming, Imagination: The British Composer Benedict Mason . In: New magazine for music . No. 6 , 2004, ISSN 0170-8791 , p. 58-59 .
Web links
- Website of the composer
- Article by Volker Straebel on Mason's music (1997)
- Interview (2004) ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- Article by Bernhard König on Mason's Chaplin Operas (1995) ( Memento from July 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
Remarks
- ↑ New Grove, MGG and Munzinger all give June 21, 1955 as the date of birth
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Richard Toop: Mason, Benedict. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
- ^ Archive of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, winner of the 1992 composer prize
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mason, Benedict |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British composer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 23, 1954 |