combining classical music and electronica

4-22-22 Mercury Soul @ Saint Joseph's Society for the Arts

About

Mercury Soul is a San Francisco-based organization that produces club shows integrating progressive DJs, classical music, and immersive production. Anchored by its San Francisco series at clubs such as Great Northern and DNA Lounge, Mercury Soul also produces events around the country with organizations such as the Chicago Symphony and the New World Symphony. The organization also serves as production consultant to organizations seeking creative digital ways to present music in spectacular surroundings.

News

Thank YOU: Juan Atkins, Milan Ariel, Public Works and the SF Music Community!

January 30, 2023

Cathedral

Mercury Soul: Cathedral is an hour of meditative music and electronica that showcases a vibrant new way of presenting live music digitally. Filmed in the sumptuous St. Joseph’s Society for the Arts in San Francisco, the film features the seamless alternation between classical music and DJing for which Mercury Soul has become known.

Green Gables

Following the success of Mercury Soul: Cathedral, a meditative mix of classical music and electronica that received close to 300k views online, Mercury Soul releases its second music video series in Spring 2021. Mercury Soul: Green Gables showcases the idyllic outdoor settings of a historic estate designed by the noted architects Green & Green. Antonin Dvorak’s “American” string quartet is paired with the world premiere of “Fiddle Caprice” by composer Alisa Rose; Mason Bates reimagines a Baroque work by Barbara Strozzi; and Thievery Corporation’s Rob Garza debuts a single off his new EP.

Mercury Soul engages a new generation of music-lovers through performances combining classical music and electronica in alternative venues with immersive stagecraft and elaborate production.

In The Press

“[Mercury Soul] aims to present ‘classical music in new ways to a new generation.’ Pairing the orchestra with electronic music and bringing both to new audiences is a noble pursuit, and Bates… should be applauded.”

WASHINGTON POST

“Mercury Soul brings classical music into [the club], blending it in with the beats of DJs, and making it relevant to the club crowd. The encounter of the old with the new worked seamlessly.”

SFIST

“At a time when symphony orchestras nationwide are trolling for audience magnets — the type of new material that can lure members of generations X & Y along with older subscribers — Bates just might have that bait.”

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

“In spite of his young age, one can already perceive in Shwartz the lineage of the true ‘maestros.’”

THE MIAMI HERALD

“Patterson’s visual additions were at once properly subdued and brilliant, elevating music and text into a complete and sensory experience.”

THE ATLANTA CONSTITION-JOURNAL

“Many artists in one of these worlds have dabbled in the other. But Bates is the first to carry on two careers in tandem, and win credibility in both arenas.”

SYMPHONY MAGAZINE