Poster Mason Bates
Composer Mason Bates photographed in Chicago.
Todd Rosenberg

A New Violin Concerto on Learning to Listen

Learning to Listen: Mason Bates

Composer Mason Bates often works with electronics when he writes music, but his new Violin Concerto is all acoustic.

He wrote it for his friend, violinist Anne Akiko Meyers.

Mason says he admires Anne's virtuosity and her musicality.

The concerto itself is about an animal with two sides; one that exemplifies a famous transition in the late Jurassic era, 150 million years ago.

Archaeopteryx
Illustration of Archaeopteryx lithographica chasing a juvenile compsognathid (Compsognathus longipes) through Late Jurassic Germany at night.
Durbed / Creative Commons license

The Archeopteryx is the most bird-like dinosaur of them all, with more feathers than scales. Mason plays with these two sides in the music, featuring skittering sounds juxtaposed with gorgeous, soaring flight music.

Anne Akiko Meyers recorded Mason's piece along with the Barber Violin Concerto, and a piece John Corigliano wrote for Anne's daughter called Lullaby for Natalie.

You can enter for a chance to win that CD here.

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