“Creating Sound” with Artist Danielle Dean

November 18, 2023

ICA San Diego/ North

See a new musical work come to life during this open workshop of an Art of Elan commissioned film score written by composer Mason Bynes in 2023 in collaboration with ICA San Diego artist-in-residence Danielle Dean, whose work draws from her multinational and multiracial heritage to explore colonization, consumption and our shared humanity.

Artists

A woman with long braided hair squatting on a white cylindrical bench outdoors, dressed in a black suit and earrings, with a minimalist background.

  • 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.

  • “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.

A woman with long brown hair and earrings, smiling, holding a violin, standing outdoors against a gray wall.

  • Violinist Kate Hatmaker enjoys a varied career as performer, educator and entrepreneur. She is the co-founder, Executive and Artistic Director of Art of Elan and has been a tenured violinist with the San Diego Symphony since 2006. Ms. Hatmaker has been a featured soloist with a wide variety of North American orchestras, including the San Diego Symphony, and has performed at the Vail International Dance Festival, La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest, and the Breckenridge Music Festival, among others. She has served on the faculty at the University of California-San Diego and the Coronado School of the Arts, and is a frequent chamber music recitalist, guest clinician, and keynote speaker.

A young man in a tuxedo, holding a harp, standing in an auditorium or concert hall with red theater seats in the background.

  • Andrew Watkins joined the San Diego Symphony in February of 2010 as a percussionist and Assistant Timpanist. Previously he studied at the University of Illinois, the Chicago College of Performing Arts, New England Conservatory, and Lynn University. He has performed with the Chicago Symphony, Chicago Lyric Opera, New World Symphony, Tanglewood Music Center, and the Pacific Music Festival, among others.

A man wearing a white shirt and a dark suit jacket standing in front of a light-colored textured background

  • Born in New York, cellist Alex Greenbaum enjoys a diverse and adventurous musical life. As a member of the Hausmann Quartet he is an Artist-in-Residence at San Diego State University, where he teaches cello and chamber music. As a long-time member of The Knights he has performed throughout the U.S. and Europe, and appeared at the festivals of Aix-en-Provence, Caramoor, Dresden, Ojai, Ravinia, Tanglewood, Salzburg and Vienna’s Musikverein and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. Alex is an affiliated artist with San Diego New Music, Art of Elan, and Bach Collegium San Diego, and is a founding member of San Diego Baroque.