The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s new 2020/21 programme has just been announced, which is the final season with Vasily Petrenko at the helm as Chief Conductor, including a few exciting performances of Grace’s newly commissioned works such as the rescheduled premiere of ‘Mahler’s Letters’, ‘In Her Own Valley’ and a performance of ‘The Imagined Forest.’
Grace was featured on BBC Radio Oxford's BBC Music Introducing In Oxford podcast this week presented by Dave Gilyeat with her piece 'Into The Abyss, I Throw Roses' for string trio, which has now been performed by trios across the UK, the US and Canada. You can listen to the podcast on Spotify, BBC Sounds or online
The premiere of Grace’s work ‘To Breathe Now’ was set to be performed by the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra later this month alongside Bruch Violin Concerto with Maxim Vengerov at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford. Unfortunately, due to the current circumstances, this performance has now been postponed until a safer time. Until then, Grace spoke to the Oxford Philharmonic to introduce the work and her creative process.
Grace is the guest on Jess Gillam's BBC Radio 3 show ‘This Classical Life’ this Saturday, which will be broadcast at 12:30pm. Gillam hosts the music show for people who like classical and other stuff too with music, eclectic playlists, and chat with a new guest every week. This week they share and chat about some of their favourite music including Bach, Hans Abrahamsen, The Beatles, Clément Janequin, Mica Levi and Kaija Saariaho.
Mason’s arrangement of ‘I Saw Three Ships’ for mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston will be released as her first ever Christmas Single on Rubicon Classics Record Label on 29th November! Recorded with pianist Alisdair Hogarth, all proceeds will go to the children of Liverpool via Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Company and Alder Hey Children’s Charity.
The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra launched their 2019/20 season featuring a wealth of concerts including two new commissions by Grace-Evangeline Mason. Her new work ‘Mahler’s Letters’ for their chorus will be premiered under Ellie Slorach alongside Petrenko’s Mahler VII in June 2020, and a new staged work with a libretto by Lila Palmer inspired by the life and work of Hannah Lightbody that features all three Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Choirs – Melody Makers, Children's Choir and Youth Choir - in July 2020.
Jennifer Johnston, recently announced as the RLPO’s upcoming Artist in Residence, is to release her debut solo disc ‘A Love Letter to Liverpool’ on Rubicon Classics. Mason is pleased to have arranged the traditional song ‘I Saw Three Ships’ for the album, which was recorded by Johnston and pianist Alisdair Hogarth. The disc will be available on Spotify, Apple Music and Presto Classical on the 27th September 2019.
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra recently announced their next season celebrating 100 years of the CBSO including an unprecedented series of new commissions from Thea Musgrave, Thomas Adès, former Composer in Association Julian Anderson, Jörg Widmann, Grace-Evangeline Mason, Gary Carpenter and Unsuk Chin. Mason is really pleased to have been commissioned to write a work for the CBSO’s Centre Stage Concert Series to be premiered in May 2020.
Grace-Evangeline Mason recently wrote an article for the Royal Philharmonic Society revealing her composition process, painting and poetry. She invites you to peer into the globe of her sound-world. She paints. Writes words. Improvises at the piano. Over time, her music emerges from the sights and sounds she receives. Read her story here.
As part of the Southbank Centre’s SoundState Festival in January, the Eblana String Trio premiered Mason’s new work Into The Abyss, I Throw Roses, which was inspired by words from Friedrich Nietzsche’s Posthumous Fragments. The work was commissioned by the Park Lane Group and was described as a ‘beautiful and muscular piece’ in the recent four-star Guardian Review.
Grace is pleased to have been featured on this BBC Bitesize page for Key Stage 1&2 school children (aged 4-11), which was written and compiled by VividEchoUK based on a short interview conducted back in August. A fantastic resource to inspire the next generation exploring a diverse range of exciting careers through the study of both STEM and creative subjects.
In the year that the RPS Composition Prize for young composers turns 70, the Royal Philharmonic Society has commissioned new works for leading ensembles and festivals across the UK. Grace is honoured to have been awarded a commission to write a new chamber work to be premiered at the Cheltenham Music Festival in 2019.
Grace is very pleased to have been commissioned to write a new work for the London Symphony Orchestra's Community Choir, which consists of 120 mixed-ability singers who make up a diverse cross-section of the local community, to be premiered on Friday 16 November 2018 in a concert themed around remembrance.
