Charles Mason
Charles Mason

Biography

Charles Mason

Charles Norman Mason has been recognized repeatedly for his originality and attention to color.  Steve Smith of The New York Times writes “’Additions’ by Charles Mason , offered a nearly seamless integration of electronic and acoustic sounds…” Peter Burwasser of Fanfare writes that Mason’s music speaks in a “boldly, original voice”. High Performance Review states that the music is “full of invention… funky and colorful… consistently ingenious.”  Katherine Porlington writes in Upstate Music (NY) “...Mason's Senderos Que se Bifurcan... is, without doubt, one of the finest new clarinet chamber works of the past twenty years.”  Nancy Raabe writes in The Birmingham News “Mason's brilliant From Shook Foil occupies a class of its own... it is charged with creativity.”

Mason has received many awards including the Rome Prize, the American Composers Orchestra “Playing it Unsafe” prize, the Premi Internacional de Composició Musical Ciutat de Tarragona Orchestra Music prize, a National Endowment of the Arts Individual Artist Award, and the IIME de Bourges. He has received commissions and performances from top performers such as Dale Warland Singers, American Composers Orchestra, Eighth Blackbird, Miami String Quartet, and Ritz Chamber Players. His music has been performed throughout the world including the FORO INTERNACIONAL DE MUSICA NUEVA in Mexico City, Quirinale in Rome, Aspen Summer Music Festival, Nuova Musica Consonante in Romania and has been featured on “Performance Today” on NPR.

Dr. Mason is Professor of Composition and Chair of the Composition and Theory department at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami.