Composer
Nationality
British
Christian Mason was born in 1984 in London, and first became interested in music through violin and guitar lessons. He studied Music at the University of York, graduating in 2006 with a starred-first before continuing with the MA in composition (2006-07), for which he gained a distinction. In September 2008 he began a PhD in composition at King’s College London, studying with George Benjamin. His postgraduate studies have been funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and he has also been supported by the PRS/Bliss Trust.
Christian previously studied with Sinan Savaskan, Nicola LeFanu, Thomas Simaku and Julian Anderson. He has also participated in many summer courses including the Stockhausen Courses (2004 and 2005), Dartington Summer School (2006), Royaumont Voix Nouvelles (2007) with Brian Ferneyhough, and Acanthes (2008). In September 2008 he was invited to the Takefu International Festival, Japan, and he is currently involved in a collaboration with choreographers on the Transforme project at Royaumont, France, until March 2009.
During March/April 2008 Christian assisted Harrison Birtwistle on the production of the Minotaur at the Royal Opera House, and has since continued to work as occasional assistant to Birtwistle.
From 2005-2008 he was shortlisted by the Society for the Promotion of New Music. During this time he composed Under Heaven for the combined Japanese and Western instruments of Okeanos Plus, who toured the work in June 2006. Christian has also developed a strong relationship with LSO, since composing Bursting Suns for the LSO Panufnik Young Composers Project in 2006. In 2007 they commissioned Clear Night as part of the UBS Soundscapes: Pioneers scheme, premiering it at Barbican, in September 2008. In association with SPNM, they also invited him to compose a solo violin piece for Midori, which resulted in the public workshop and performance of Efflorescence in May 2008, at LSO St. Lukes. Most recently Christian was commissioned by London Sinfonietta for their 40th Birthday Concert, in December 2008.
His music has also been performed by Mieko Kanno (violin), Helen Bledsoe (flute), Joe Browning (shakuhachi), Elysian Quartet, Ensemble Cairn, Next Mushroom Promotion, BBC Philharmonic and Opera North Orchestra under such conductors as Elgar Howarth, Francois-Xavier Roth, James MacMillan, Sylvio Gualda, Guillaume Bourgogne and Pavel Kotla.
Christian has a continued interest in collaborating with artists of other disciplines. As well as his current work with dance, he has collaborated with performance artist Barbara Keal. Their piece Songs for the Last Slam Door Train , for 20 amateur voices, took place on the last such train (between London and East Grinstead) in November 2005.
Christian was commissioned to write In Time Entwined, In Space Enlaced for the London Sinfonietta's 40th birthday concert in 2008 - the premiere recording will be released on the final disc in the London Sinfonietta label's Jerwood series in autumn 2009.