Benedict Mason Portrait

“When it comes to the music of Benedict Mason, it is best to expect the unexpected.”

— The Telegraph

In 1990 BCMG premiered the exotically-named and exotic-sounding Nodding Trilliums and Curve-Lined Angles by Benedict Mason – a joyous, extravagant quadruple percussion concerto. In 2006 we gave performances of Mason’s ! with conductor Franck Ollu, another virtuosic roller-coaster that had our musicians playing all manner of unusual instruments alongside their own. Like Nodding Trilliums, the title of which refers to the flora and fauna of Western Massachusetts, Ives’ Piano Trio shares a ‘New England’ connection. Included at Mason’s suggestion, the Trio – one of Ives’ greatest works – is a reflection on the composer’s time at Yale University.

The late great Hungarian György Ligeti had the highest regard for Benedict Mason’s exciting, thought-provoking and colourful music and their work shares something of the same aesthetic. The premiere of Mason’s Meld by the chamber choir Chantage and Aurora Orchestra, proved to be one of the absolute highlights of the 2014 BBC Proms – with ripples of pizzicato orbiting the hall like musical Mexican waves, cellos populating the grand tier boxes, and fierce clusters from the organ cutting through.

We cannot predict what Benedict Mason’s new work for BCMG will be, which is the best possible endorsement we could give it!