Composer Mason Bates DJing at Mercury Soul in San Francisco.
Show Notes
Grammy-nominated composer Mason Bates is also a bona fide DJ, baby. As DJ Masonic, he brings classical music and electronica together on the dance floor at clubs like San Francisco’s Mezzanine. As a composer, he brings the sounds of electronica to classical music in places like the Kennedy Center (where he’s composer-in-residence). And so it’s fitting that Bates’ first opera is about famed Apple tech guru, Steve Jobs. But even for someone as comfortable in multiple musical worlds as Mason Bates, can it really work to tell a decidedly 21st century story using a 400-year-old medium? Turns out, yes. In this special Seattle Opera Podcast crossover episode, Bates explains why Jobs’ story and opera go together like iPhones and jelly. Wait…
Music in this episode:
Special thanks to Todd Reynolds for his music, Taskforce: Farmlab from Outerbourough.
Special thanks also goes to Jonathan Dean and the Seattle Opera for making this episode happen and for just being swell.