2022-2023 Joyce C. Willis Artist in Residence

Quinn Mason (b. 1996) is a composer and conductor based in Dallas, Texas. He currently serves as the Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s Artist in Residence. He recently served as the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Classical Roots composer in residence for 2022 (the youngest composer appointed to that role) and as KMFA’s inaugural composer in residence.

Quinn has been described as “a brilliant composer just barely in his 20s who seems to make waves wherever he goes.” (Theater Jones) and “One of the most sought-after young composers in the country” (Texas Monthly). His orchestral music has received performances by many renowned orchestras in the US, including the San Francisco Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Amarillo Symphony, Utah Symphony Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra of the United States (NYO-USA), New World Symphony, University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra, National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic, New England
Conservatory Philharmonia, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Experiential Orchestra, Mesquite Symphony Orchestra, Wichita Symphony Orchestra, Akron Symphony Orchestra, Toledo Symphony Orchestra, Canton Symphony Orchestra, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, Symphony San Jose, South Bend Symphony Orchestra, the River Oaks, Reno, Mission and Lowell chamber orchestras, youth orchestras of Los
Angeles, Central Kentucky, Memphis, Omaha, Seattle and Dallas, Scotland’s Nevis Ensemble, Italy’s Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI and numerous others.

As a conductor, Quinn has guest conducted numerous orchestras, including the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles, Harmonia Orchestra, MusicaNova Orchestra and the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra. He also recently served as the Houston Ballet Orchestra’s youngest ever guest conductor. Quinn studied conducting at the National Orchestral Institute with Marin Alsop and James Ross, and with Christopher Zimmerman (Fargo-Moorhead Symphony), Kevin Sütterlin (Fox Valley Symphony), Miguel Harth-Bedoya (Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra) and Will White (Harmonia Orchestra). He also counts Richard Giangiulio (Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra), Edwin Outwater (San Francisco Conservatory) and John Axelrod (City of Kyoto Symphony Orchestra) as mentors.

His chamber music has been performed and presented by celebrated organizations such as Voices of Change, Midsummer’s Music, The Cliburn, One Found Sound, loadbang, MAKE trio, Atlantic Brass Quintet, Axiom Brass, and the Cézanne, Julius and Baumer string quartets. His solo music has been championed by distinguished soloists such as David Cooper (principal horn, Chicago Symphony), Lara Downes (pianist), Holly Mulcahy (concertmaster, Wichita Symphony) and Jordan Bak and Michael Hall (viola soloists).

His compositions for winds have been performed by the Cobb Wind Symphony, Encore Wind Ensemble, Metropolitan Winds, and bands of Southern Methodist University, University of North Texas, Texas Christian University, Penn State, University of Toronto, University of West Georgia, Purdue University, University of Minnesota, and Northern Illinois University, as well as others throughout the United States and Canada.

A multiple prize winner in composition, he has received numerous awards and honors from such organizations as the American Composers Forum, Voices of Change, Texas A&M University, ASCAP, the Dallas Foundation, Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble, National Flute Association, the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York, the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, the Heartland Symphony Orchestra and the Arizona State University
Symphony Orchestra. In 2020, Quinn was honored by the Dallas Morning News as a finalist for ‘Texan of the Year’.

Quinn has studied composition at the SMU Meadows School of the Arts, with Dr. Winston Stone at University of Texas at Dallas and has also worked closely with renowned composers David Maslanka, Jake Heggie, Libby Larsen, David Dzubay and Robert X. Rodriguez.

Quinn is a member of ASCAP. He is professionally represented by Cadenza Artists.