Grace-Evangeline Mason

Grace-Evangeline Mason (born October 1994)[1] is a British composer of contemporary classical music.

Grace-Evangeline Mason
NationalityBritish
EducationRoyal Northern College of Music, Somerville College, Oxford
OccupationComposer
Websitewww.graceevangelinemason.com

Biography

Mason studied composition at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, under Professor Emily Howard and Professor Gary Carpenter, where she held a scholarship and was awarded the Rosamond Prize (2016). She began her studies at the college as a member of their Junior Department,[2] during which time she was also a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and won the 2013 BBC Proms Inspire Young Composer Competition for her piece Convergence,[3][4] for which she has since become an ambassador.[5][6] She subsequently studied at Somerville College, Oxford.[7]

In 2017, whilst still an undergraduate, she was co-commissioned by BBC Radio 4's Front Row programme and The Proms to compose her work entitled River, which was written to celebrate the 300th anniversary of George Frideric Handel's Water Music.[8][9][10][11] The piece was premiered live on BBC Radio 4 from a stationary boat on the River Thames by London Early Opera,[12] imitating the premiere performance of Water Music 300 years previously. River was subsequently performed at the Proms[13][14] by Royal Northern Sinfonia under Nicholas McGegan in Kingston upon Hull, which was the first time the Proms had included a concert outside London since 1930.[15] In 2018, the piece received its United States premiere at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival by the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.[16]

In November 2017, the BBC Philharmonic[17] performed her orchestral work Kintsukuroi: (Golden Repair),[18] conducted by Mark Heron,[19] in a special joint concert with Psappha New Music Ensemble for BBC Radio 3 broadcast[20] as part of the biennial New Music North West Festival.[21]

Mason is the recipient of prizes and awards such as the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic's Christopher Brooks Prize 2017[22][23][24] and the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize 2018.[25][26]

Her debut chamber opera in one act entitled The Yellow Wallpaper, for which Mason wrote the libretto based on the short story of the same name by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, was produced by the Helios Collective to receive its premiere performance at the English National Opera's Lilian Baylis House in 2016.[27][28][29][30]

Mason's music has been included in events and festivals such as BBC Radio 3's Young Artist Day,[31] in which her work "Diamond Dust II" for Clarinet in Bb and Piano was broadcast live,[32] her setting of Psalm 93, "The Lord Is", was premiered in the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music 2017[33] by the Sarum Consort,[34] and in the Open Circuit Festival 2016 in which her piece "Let The Rain Kiss You", inspired by the poem "April Rain Song", by Langston Hughes was performed by trombonist, John Kenny.[35]

Her music has been performed by members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra,[36] the Aurora Orchestra,[37][38] and Ensemble 10/10.[39][40] In 2017, Mason was selected to write her orchestral piece Beneath the Silken Silence for the London Symphony Orchestra as part of their Panufnik Composer's Scheme,[41][42] she was then subsequently commissioned[43] to write her work 'FAFAIA' (2018) for their Community Choir.[44]

She was named in The Times 2020 Calendar of the Arts as the classical music 'Face To Watch.'[45]

Selected works

Orchestral works

  • Fireworks (2018) – for soprano voice and orchestra
  • beneath the silken silence (2018) – for orchestra
  • Abloom: Where Quiet Falls Asleep (2017) – for orchestra
  • Kintsukuroi: (Golden Repair) (2016) – for orchestra

Solo/chamber works

  • Midnight Spires (2019) – for string quartet
  • Into The Abyss, I Throw Roses (2018) – for string trio
  • Upon Weightless Wings (2018) – for large chamber ensemble
  • River (2017) – for baroque chamber orchestra
  • Pale Fires (2017) – for large chamber ensemble
  • Night and Sleep II (2017) – for flute, clarinet in Bb, piano, vibraphone, violin and violoncello
  • Amongst The Cinders (2017) – for soprano saxophone and piano
  • Diamond Dust II (2015) – for clarinet in Bb and piano
  • Let The Rain Kiss You (2015) – for solo trombone and electronics

Vocal works

  • The Rosy Hearth (2016) – for tenor voice and piano
  • Convergence (2013) – for soprano voice, violin and violoncello

Choral works

  • A Song of Christ's Glory (2019) – for SATB choir
  • Fafaia (2018) – for SATB choir and piano
  • Tenebrae factae sunt (2018) – for SATB choir
  • The Lord Is (2015) – for SATB choir
  • Faint Flight (2014) – for SATB choir

Opera

  • The Yellow Wallpaper (2016) – chamber opera in one act

References

  1. "Grace-Evangeline Mason". 2018-05-30.
  2. "Grace Mason, Composer – Royal Northern College of Music".
  3. "BBC Proms Inspire Young Composers' Competition winners announced - Classical-Music.com". www.classical-music.com.
  4. "JRNCM Student is BBC Young Composer – Royal Northern College of Music".
  5. "BBC – BBC Proms launches 2017 Inspire scheme for young composers aged 12–18 – Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk.
  6. "Inspired by BBC Proms – Chance of a Lifetime for Young Composers – Music Australia". Music Australia.
  7. "Somerville College, Oxford, Magazine 2019". www.issuu.com.
  8. "River (Proms 2017) – Grace Evangeline Mason, Royal Northern Sinfonia & Nicholas McGegan Song – BBC Music". BBC.
  9. Tilden, Imogen (2017-07-16). "My first night of the Proms: Meet the young stars making their festival debuts". The Guardian.
  10. "Proms at … Stage@TheDock, Hull – Royal Albert Hall". Royal Albert Hall.
  11. "Meet the Maestro: Bridget Cunningham – Rhinegold".
  12. "Home – London Early Opera – London Early Opera". www.londonearlyopera.org.
  13. "BBC Proms 2017 – Proms at Stage@TheDock, Hull". Radio Times.
  14. "BBC Music – 30 and under: Meet the young stars of the Proms 2017". 2017-08-16.
  15. Correspondent, Mark Brown Arts (2017-04-20). "BBC Proms to travel to Hull to mark year as City of Culture". The Guardian.
  16. "Norfolk Chamber Music Festival 2018 Concert Program".
  17. "New Music North West: The BBC Philharmonic & Psappha". BBC Music Events.
  18. "www.psappha.com" (PDF).
  19. "Heron, Mark – NMC Recordings". www.nmcrec.co.uk.
  20. "BBC Radio 3 – Hear and Now, New Music North West". BBC.
  21. "New Music North West – RNCM". RNCM.
  22. "Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra 2018–2019 Season Announced – Liverpool Philharmonic".
  23. "Liverpool Philharmonic Announces Winner of Christopher Brooks Composition Prize 2017 – Liverpool Philharmonic".
  24. "Grace-Evangeline Mason wins Christopher Brooks Composition Prize in association with Lancashire Sinfonietta Legacy Fund and The Rushworth Foundation @www.classicalsource.com".
  25. "Grace-Evangeline Mason".
  26. "Royal Philharmonic Society announces awards and prizes for young composers and musicians totalling £42,000 @www.classicalsource.com".
  27. "Helios Collective announces Formations masterclasses 2016".
  28. "Formations Masterclasses 2016". 15 November 2016.
  29. "Three young composers".
  30. "Formative – Judith Weir". Judith Weir.
  31. "BBC Radio 3 to host Young Artist Day – M Magazine". 2015-04-27.
  32. "BBC – Radio 3 Young Artists Day". BBC.
  33. "LFCCM – The London Festival of Contemporary Church Music". Lfccm.com. Retrieved 2018-11-02.
  34. "The Sarum Consort with Kin Collective – LFCCM". Lfccm.com. 2017-05-13. Retrieved 2018-11-02.
  35. "Open Circuit Festival | 2018 | Liverpool".
  36. "Grace Evangeline Mason – Concerts, Biography & News – BBC Music". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-11-02.
  37. "Proms Plus Inspire". BBC Music Events.
  38. "BBC Proms 2013 schedule in full".
  39. "Ensemble 10/10: 21st Birthday Concert – Liverpool Philharmonic".
  40. "Ensemble 10/10 – Liverpool Philharmonic".
  41. "London Symphony Orchestra – Panufnik Composers Scheme".
  42. "London Symphony Orchestra / Panufnik Composers Workshop – Barbican". www.barbican.org.uk.
  43. "London Symphony Orchestra – Grace-Evangeline Mason awarded LSO Community Choir Commission".
  44. Johnson, Jo. "London Symphony Orchestra – Community Choir". lso.co.uk.
  45. Morrison, Richard. "The Times 2020 Calendar of the Arts". thetimes.co.uk.
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