Daniel Mason is currently in his thirty-second year as Associate Professor of Violin and Head of the String Department at the University of Kentucky, and as Concertmaster of and frequent soloist with the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also been concertmaster of the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra and appeared frequently as soloist with orchestra and in recitals and chamber concerts in the United States and abroad. His activities have included live national radio broadcasts from WFMT in Chicago, including the Dame Myra Hess Series, and performances on NPR’s Performance Today and at the Kennedy Center in Washington.
Mr. Mason was a member for three year of the prestigious Jascha Heifetz Master Class and holds degrees from the Ohio State University (B. M.) and the University of Southern California (M. M.).
Mr. Mason has been invited four times to present at the National Conference of the American String Teachers Association, in 2006, 2008, 2014 and March, 2015. His 2014 presentation was on the subject of bilateral transfer of learning in musicians.
He has given master classes and performances in countries around the world, including Korea, China (appearing as soloist with the Tianjin Symphony Orchestra), Brazil, Austria, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy, Turkey, Cambodia and the Republic of Georgia.
In recent summers, he has been Artistic Director of the Mason – Kim International Heifetz Methods Research Summer Seminar in Korea.
An enthusiastic advocate of recent music, Mr. Mason has recorded a CD of chamber music by noted American composer Joel Hoffman released by Gasparo Records. He has performed the music of many other composers, working in consultation with them, including John Cage, David Amram, Wiliam Bolcom, Bernard Rands and Joseph Baber. He has given the premiere, in Vienna, of a solo work written for him by composer Alexander Blechinger. His performance of the work is included on a CD released in Austria.
He also founded the University of Kentucky String Project, for which he received a $50,000 grant from the American String Teachers Association. For twelve years, the Project has trained string teachers while providing affordable instruction to more than 800 area children. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the National String Project Consortium.
Mr. Mason’s students have won positions in the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Associate Concertmaster), Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Louisiana Philharmonic, and others, as well as teaching positions at universities around the nation.