Everybody panic. Don’t worry, electronic-symphonica mastermind Mason Bates, who I rave about in this week’s issue, isn’t gonna freak peeps out. But seriously, do not miss the premier of his orchestral suite for full orchestra and laptop, The B-Sides, which he’ll be performing for three nights with the ever-game SF Symphony, Wed/20, Fri/22, Sat/23. After Friday night’s performance (free with ticket!) you’ll get ushered into a really cool secret space by Davies Symphony Hall for an afterparty, featuring Mason’s
Here’s two views of Mason, aka DJ Masonic, at Carnegie Hall with the YouTube Symphony Orchestra in April, debuting the “Wharehouse Medicine” portion of The B-Sides.
The balcony view, complete with trippy visuals:
and here’s from right down in the fray (I’m dying to know what the tiny grand piano behind his is for! Hello, Carl Stalling?) Note the dramatic use of drum pad:
I would be totally, regrettably remiss if I didn’t also pump Bates’ co-performer on the program, the heartbreakingly talented and just all around fierce Yuja Wang, who’ll be performing Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto #2, which at around the seven-minute-mark will honestly start to kill you with beauty. Girl’s got skills.
Here’s her performing at Carnegie Hall. Um, hi hotness.
Also featured: the majestically haunting, almost-4AD-foretelling Fourth Symphony by Sibelius, who’s all the rage among young turk composers these days.
Mason Bates, Yuja Wang, and the SF Symphony
Wed/20, Fri/22, Sat/23
8 p.m., $35–$130
Davies Symphony Hall
201 Van Ness
(415) 552-8000
www.sfsymphony.org