Mason Bates (Composer/Writer) Composer of the Grammy-winning opera The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, Mason Bates is imaginatively transforming the way classical music is created and experienced as a composer, DJ, and curator. During his term as the first composer-in-residence at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, he presented a diverse array of artists on his KC Jukebox using immersive production and stagecraft. Championed by legendary conductors from Riccardo Muti to Michael Tilson Thomas, his symphonic music is the first to receive widespread acceptance for its unique integration of electronic sounds. He was named the second most-performed composer of his generation (to John Adams) in a recent survey of American music. Bates has also composed for film, including Gus Van Sant’s The Sea of Trees starring Matthew McConaughey and Naomi Watts. A diverse artist exploring the ways classical music integrates into contemporary culture, he serves on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Gary Rydstrom (Director/Writer) has been nominated for eighteen Academy Awards, winning seven for his work in film sound, including Jurassic Park, Titanic, and Saving Private Ryan. As an animation director, he was nominated for an Academy Award for his Pixar short film Lifted, and in 2015 directed Strange Magic, a Lucasfilm/Disney musical that features innovative integration of music and animation. He has contributed sound design for the Mason Bates orchestral pieces Alternative Energy and Mass Transmission.
Jim Capobianco (Story/Animation) has worked as a story artist on many major animated films, including Lion King, Fantasia 2000, Finding Nemo, and Inside Out. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for Ratatouille. His love of traditional animation is evident in the imaginative end credits he created for Wall-E, in his Pixar short Your Friend the Rat, and in Leonardo, a hand-drawn animation that has been screened at numerous international film festivals. He has recently completed supervising the animation sequences for Disney’s new live-action feature film Mary Poppins.
Duration: 25 minutes
Instrumentation:
3 flutes
2 oboes
3 clarinets
2 bassoons
1 contra bassoon
4 horns in F
3 trumpets in C
2 trombones
bass trombone
tuba
4 percussionists
timpani
piano (doubling celesta)
harp
laptop
(required as an audio/video playback device, to be supplied by Technical Director)
strings (no fewer than 12/10/8/8/6 players)