MASON BATES SEBASTIAN CURRIER S Sponsored by Michèle Beigel Corash & Sponsored by Jim & Beth Petersen R Laurence Corash and Alan Ritch E Recently appointed the first composer-in- Sebastian Currier is the 2007 recipient of the S residence of the Kennedy Center for the prestigious Grawemeyer Award. Heralded as Performing Arts, Mason Bates writes music that “music with a distinctive voice” by The New York O fuses innovative orchestral writing, imaginative Times and as “lyrical, colorful, firmly rooted in narrative forms, the harmonies of jazz and the tradition, but absolutely new” by the Washington P rhythms of techno. His symphonic music has Post, his music has been performed at major been the first to receive widespread acceptance venues worldwide by acclaimed artists and for its expanded palette of electronic sounds. orchestras. His works span both chamber and M MASON BATES Bates’ activities as a DJ in San Francisco and orchestral genres, and have been performed O Chicago have highly informed not only his by ensembles including the Cassatt, Ying, and compositional approach, but his distinctive Kronos string quartets, the New World and C curating projects. He has become an advocate San Francisco symphonies, and the New York for bringing new music to new spaces, whether Philharmonic. through institutional partnerships such as T his residency with the Chicago Symphony Recent works include Deep-Sky Objects for Orchestra, or through his club/classical project soprano and ensemble; Fifteen Minutes for “Mercury Soul,” which has transformed spaces flute, harp, and viola; Quanta for orchestra; ES ranging from commercial clubs to Frank Gehry- Flow for chamber sextet; Ringtone Variations designed concert halls into exciting, hybrid for violin and double bass; Cadence, Fugue, U musical events drawing more than a thousand Fade for brass quintet; Parallel Worlds for SEBASTIAN CURRIER people. In awarding Bates the Heinz Medal in flute and string quartet; and Artificial Memory G the Humanities, Teresa Heinz remarked that “his for chamber ensemble and electronics. In music has moved the orchestra into the digital April 2015, Sebastian Currier’s new work for age and dissolved the boundaries of classical orchestra, Divisions, was premiered by the music.” Seattle Symphony. In addition, May 2015 saw the premieres of Spark, written for the twelve As part of the San Francisco Symphony’s recent cellos of the Berlin Philharmonic, and Glow, a Beethoven & Bates Festival, three of his largest new solo piano work premiered by Inon Barnatan works—Alternative Energy, Liquid Interface, and in London. Recordings include his violin concerto The B-Sides—were recorded for an upcoming Time Machines with Anne-Sophie Mutter CD focusing on his music. As well, his Violin of the New York Philharmonic on Deutsche Concerto was recorded by Leonard Slatkin, Grammophon, Next Atlantis with the Ying the London Symphony, and violinist Anne Quartet on Naxos, and On the Verge from Music CHARLES HALKA Akiko Meyers. His music’s dramatic realization from Copland House, featuring his Grawemeyer of narrative forms has recently attracted the Award-winning Static, and other chamber works. attention of artists outside classical music, Anne Midgette for The New York Times said of such as famed director Gus Van Sant, whose his Quartetset, Quiet Time album, recorded by upcoming film, Sea of Trees, starring Matthew the Cassatt Quartet, “…[it] distances the present McConaughey, features a symphonic score by from the past, causing the listener to think about Bates. Bates’ diverse catalogue includes many music itself.” purely acoustic works, in addition to chamber and vocal music. Currier has received many awards including the Berlin Prize, Rome Prize, a Guggenheim Continuing performances of works such as Fellowship, a fellowship from the National Mothership, which premiered at the Sydney Endowment for the Arts, and an Academy Award Opera House by the YouTube Symphony to from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; ANA LARA an online audience of 1.8 million; Rusty Air in and has held residencies at the MacDowell and Carolina, an electro-acoustic tone poem about Yaddo colonies. He received a Doctor of Musical the ambience of the South; and the sinfonietta Arts degree from the Juilliard School; and from Omnivorous Furniture, have demonstrated that 1999-2007 he taught at Columbia University. electronic sounds can be a welcome addition to the orchestral palette. Currier makes his debut at Cabrillo with the U.S. Premiere of Quanta on Saturday, August 8th. Bates returns to the Cabrillo Festival for the West Coast premiere of his latest work, Anthology of Fantastic Zoology, on Opening Night, Friday, August 7th. More information and content is available HANNAH LASH www.cabrillomusic.org 18 CABRILLO FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC.