Benedict Mason, born on 23 February 1954, is a British composer.
He did not turn to composition until his early 30s, but his first acknowledged work, Hinterstoisser Traverse (1986), attracted attention from the European new music scene.
[1] His early works are decidedly postmodern in inclination, with considerable use of stylistic irony (some commentators[weasel words] have noted in these works a similarity to the music of Mauricio Kagel).
Mason then developed an interest in polyrhythmic music, and in works such as his Double Concerto one can hear a stylistic affinity to the later works of György Ligeti.
Mason has composed in different genres, and his soccer opera Playing Away, with a libretto by Howard Brenton, was commissioned by the Munich Biennale and premièred there in 1994 by Opera North.