Bells and Whistles from Mason Bates

Charles T. Downey, Kennedy Center’s New Music Series Is Bates’s Jukebox
Classical Voice North America, February 25

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The nation’s capital is not exactly a hotbed for contemporary music. A few series and ensembles devoted to new music have small but loyal followings, but others struggle to find an audience. The Kennedy Center regularly hosts some performances of new works, but as the venue that is arguably the city’s classical music flagship, is certainly not known for contemporary specialization.

Deborah F. Rutter, who left the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association to take the reins at the Kennedy Center in 2014, aimed to change that. Some of her initiatives so far were popular but a little silly, like building a large skateboard park in front of the building’s main entrance as part of a skateboard-themed festival last September...

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KC Jukebox
Members of National Symphony Orchestra
Mason Bates, composer
Kennedy Center Theater Lab

SEE ALSO:
Anne Midgette, How one composer attempts to break the concert mold (Washington Post, February 23)

---, Composer throws the Kennedy Center a great party (Washington Post, November 10, 2015)

Simon Chin, Mason Bates’s Second ‘KC Jukebox’ Falls Short of Expectations (Chin Up, February 23)

---, Mason Bates Brings Lounge Music to the Kennedy Center (Chin Up, November 10, 2015)