Mason Bates Named June Artist of the Month by MusicalAmerica.com

Mason Bates Named June Artist of the Month by MusicalAmerica.com

New award recognizes San Francisco-based composer for his organic blend of orchestra and electronica.

NEW YORK, June 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Musical America Worldwide and MusicalAmerica.com today announced composer Mason Bates as June's New Artist of the Month, a recently added feature that highlights the career of a different up-and-coming international artist every month on the home page of www.MusicalAmerica.com.

Launched in February 2009 in honor of MusicalAmerica.com's 10th anniversary, New Artist of the Month complements the Musical America International Directory of Performing Arts' annual award for Musician of the Year.

2009 Artists of the Month thus far are:

-- Bass-baritone Adam Plachetka, age 25, Czechoslovakia
-- Cellist Soo Bae, age 31, Canada
-- Conductor Lionel Bringuier, age 22, France
-- Pianist Di Wu, 24, United States

-- Composer Mason Bates, 32, United States

Artists may be nominated by any member of the industry, as well as contributing writers and staff members. Readers will be able to vote for their favorite New Artist of the Year in November of 2009 out of the ten who will have been selected by that time.

Based in the San Francisco Bay area, Mason Bates's trademark mix of acoustic instruments with what he calls "electronica" is rapidly gaining international attention; just last week, the San Francisco Symphony premiered his "B-Sides: Five Pieces for Orchestra & Electronica" one of a large number of recent orchestral commissions; in March, a cappella men's group Chanticleer premiered his "Sirens" and promptly commissioned a second piece. His works are on the 2009-10 schedules of the Los Angeles Philharmonic as well as the Pittsburgh and Chicago symphonies, among others.

Represented by Young Concert Artists, Bates is a recipient of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Music Prize, as well as a Rome and Berlin Prize from the American Academy. He holds degrees in music composition and English literature from the joint Columbia-Juilliard program, and has studied with John Corigliano, David Del Tredici and Samuel Adler; he holds a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.

About Musical America Worldwide

Founded as a weekly newspaper in 1898, Musical America through the years has appeared in a variety of formats. Today, it is both the International Directory of the Performing Arts and MusicalAmerica.com. The first International Directory was published in 1960, which is also when the tradition of choosing a Musician of the Year began. MusicalAmerica.com was launched ten years ago and now publishes up to five performing arts news stories daily, by national and international correspondents around the globe. The Directory's listings are also available at www.MusicalAmerica.com.

Musical America is published by UBM Global Trade (www.ubmglobaltrade.com), a subsidiary of United Business Media plc (www.unitedbusinessmedia.com) and a leading data publisher, information services provider, and conference producer in the business-to-business community.

Source: Musical America Worldwide

CONTACT: Stephanie Challener, Publisher, Musical America Worldwide,
+1-609-371-7858, schallener@musicalamerica.com

Web Site: http://www.musicalamerica.com/

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