Black Goo by Mason Bynes - Downtown Sounds Concert by Art of Elan

World premiere of Black Goo by Mason Bynes performed at Art of Elan's Downtown Sounds Concert in San Diego, CA on November 15, 2023.
Black Goo:
The Corporation
Uncle Brian’s Memory
Images of Hemel
Black Eden
Ensemble:
Kate Hatmaker, violin
Alex Greenbaum, cello
Andrew Watkins, percussion
Note from the composer:
“Black Goo” is a four movement work capturing scenes within Danielle Dean’s latest film that expresses themes of identity and belonging. Her film presents her own experience as a biracial Brit from Hemel Hempstead, navigating an environment that is scarily homogenous and bewildered by the impacts of corporate capitalism.
About Mason Bynes:
Mason Bynes is a New York based composer, vocalist, and multimedia artist who strives to bridge the gap between genre and sound in order to bring listeners together. Her passion and musical curiosity has sparked a variety of commissions with various ensembles and artists, including: Boston Lyric Opera, Emmanuel Music, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, The Westerlies, National Association of Teachers of Singing, WindSync, Ex- Aequo, Bass Players for Black Composers, and New York’s chamber orchestra, Parlando. Recently, Mason enjoyed the premiere of her latest choral work, “Dust Bowl”, as the inaugural Florence Price Prize winner presented by the Washington Master Chorale. Earlier this year, her brass quartet piece, “For Rosa”, was released on The Westerlies’ latest album, “Move”, described as “delightfully melodic and jazzy” by Classics Today. Her compositional stylings for voice have been reviewed by The Boston Globe as “elegant”, after the premiere of her newly composed operetta “The Wanderer’s Tethering”. Mason currently serves on the composition team for commercial placement at Raging Cloud Studios and now works as a Career Development Counselor at New York University. After years of coaching emerging artists at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mason still visits the city during the holidays to sing with the Holiday Pops Singers and the Boston Pops, conducted by Keith Lockhart. Mason is excited to continue supporting her musical community through her work in NYC.
About Downtown Sounds:
Presented as part of the inaugural California Festival - a collaboration between the San Diego Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and San Francisco Symphony.
Art of Elan’s popular downtown series returned to the Luce Loft with Downtown Sounds, an evening of thought-provoking new music that featured the world premiere of work by Mason Bynes (multimedia composer), along with new music by trumpeter Steph Richards, drummer Andrew Munsey, and Nathalie Joachim.
Video Production: Kyle Johnson, DEFINITE Media
Audio Engineer: Daniel Rumley, Rumley Music and Audio Production
Photography: Gary Payne Photography