Christian Mason

Christian Mason was born in London in 1984. He defines composition as "searching in sound for fleeting solidifications of intangible experiences", and adds to this ambitious project the mastering of an extraordinary and rare instrument, the theremin, which he has recently featured in a piece with a string octet, Looking for the Land that is Nowhere. The piece was given its premiere in June 2010 as part of the 'Music of Today' series at the Royal Festival Hall with Lydia Kavina and members of the Philharmonia Orchestra.

Christian has just been selected by Pierre Boulez to be commissioned for a large-scale orchestral work as part of the Lucerne Festival Academy Composer Project. The premiere will take place at the 2013 Festival, following a workshop in 2012. From 2005-2008 Christian was shortlisted by the Society for the Promotion of New Music and in 2009 was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize and nominated for the British Composer Awards, chamber category.

Christian's music has been described variously as "a very different world, gentle and subtly coloured... intriguingly ambiguous in a way that made me want to hear it again, immediately" (Ivan Hewitt, Telegraph) and "energised, bracing, craggy and brilliant" (Colin Anderson, Classicalsource). His former teacher and composer Nicola LeFanu portrayed Christian in New Notes as one of the "most strikingly original" composers of his generation.

Alongside pursuing a Ph.D at Kings College London with George Benjamin, Christian works as composition assistant to Sir Harrison Birtwistle, and 'composer mentor' for the LSO Panufnik Young Composers Project. He previously read music at the University of York and has studied composition with Sinan Savaskan, Nicola LeFanu, Thomas Simaku, Brian Ferneyhough and Julian Anderson. Christian has also participated in summer courses such as the Stockhausen Courses, Dartington, Royaumont Voix Nouvelles 2007, Acanthes 2008 and Takefu International Festival 2008.

His curiosity has led him to work with other artists such as Barbara Keal on Songs for the Last Slam Door Train (2006), for 20 amateur singers on a train. He also collaborated with choreographers on the Transforme project at Royaumont (2008-09) and, more recently, has been invited to write the music for the new production by Peter Gill of David Hare's The Breath of Life, which will be performed at the Lyceum Theatre in Sheffield in February this year.

Christian's music has been commissioned and/or performed by Midori, Mieko Kanno, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Elysian Quartet, Okeanos Plus, Ensemble Cairn, Next Mushroom Promotion, London Sinfonietta, Britten Sinfonia, London Symphony Orchestra, Opera North Orchestra, and BBC Philharmonic under such conductors as Elgar Howarth, Francois-Xavier Roth and James MacMillan. In September 2009 In Time Entwined, In Space Enlaced, written for London Sinfonietta's 40th Birthday Concert, was released on their 'Jerwood Series'. December saw the world premier tour of Noctilucence, performed by the Britten Sinfonia and broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Aldeburgh has commissioned two pieces from him, including one for solo cello for their June 2011 festival. Christian's new piece for violin(s) and piano was premiered by Carolin Widmann at the Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, Auditorio Nacional and the Wigmore Hall, followed by further performances at the, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.