'He’s always searching for something expressive and something very personal. His attitude is similar to what Bartók was all about: not just creating nice colours but all the time trying to go deeper.'
(Gergely Madaras, BBC Music Magazine)
Christian Mason, born in London in 1984, began composing aged 15, guided by Sinan Savaskan, before continuing his studies at the University of York with Nicola LeFanu and Thomas Simaku, and at King’s College London with Sir George Benjamin, during which time he also worked as a composition assistant to Sir Harrison Birtwistle.
His music has been performed by leading orchestras and ensembles worldwide, including the LSO, Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Wiener Philharmoniker, Hong Kong Philharmonic, London Sinfonietta and Ensemble Intercontemporain. Recent works, such as Zwischen den Sternen (Ensemble Recherche, 2019), The Singing Tree (BCMG, 2023) and The Oddity Effect (Ensemble Modern and SWR Vokalensemble, 2025) showcase his ever-imaginative approach to timbre, texture and form.
With Octandre Ensemble, a group he co-founded in 2011, Mason performed Time - Space - Sound - Light at Glasgow Cathedral Festival (2024) and Figures in a Landscape (awaiting eternity) at Little Missenden Festival (2024), following the world premiere at Musikdorf Ernen where he was Composer in Residence 2023/24. Other notable works include Songbooks (an ongoing cycle for Ligeti Quartet), Invisible Threads (Arditti Quartet and Neue Vocalsolisten, 2023/24), Sympathetic Resonance (hr-Sinfonieorchester, 2025), and the orchestral cycle Zeit und Ewigkeit, premiered by the Wiener Philharmoniker (Christian Thielemann), Konzerthausorchester Berlin (Christoph Eschenbach), and hr-Sinfonieorchester (Michał Nesterowicz).
Current collaborations include projects with Patricia Kopatchinskaja and SWR Experimentalstudio (Blissful vistas…), flautist Noemi Gyori (Thaleia), and Explore Ensemble with mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean (Hölderlin’s Madness). A dedicated mentor, he has guided young composers through the LSO Helen Hamlyn Panufnik Young Composers Project and the Philharmonia Composers’ Academy. Recordings of Mason’s works are available on Winter & Winter, Col Legno, nonclassical and London Sinfonietta Label.
In 2015, he was awarded an Ernst von Siemens Composer Prize. In April 2025, he will receive the Grawemeyer Music Composition Award for Invisible Threads.