Dear Mason Music Family,

How thrilled we were to welcome 106 new undergraduate and graduate music students to our beautiful campus of George Mason University last week as we began our Fall 2022 semester on August 22nd. We were privileged to share an inspiring Dewberry School of Music Convocation last week with our new and returning music students, faculty, and staff.

Join us for a spectacular opening of our 2022 Fall Concert season with a Grand Piano Celebration on Sunday, September 18 at 3 pm in Mason's Center for the Arts. This concert honors Mason's All-Steinway School and will include a special musical tribute commemorating the legacy of Sid and Reva Dewberry. Exciting and dramatic solo piano and duo-piano works, as well as beautiful and reflective collaborative piano works with voice and violin will be performed by outstanding student and faculty artists. Our faculty piano ensemble (8 hands) and our student trumpet ensemble will also be showcased! Enjoy exciting compositions by Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Strauss, Puccini, Rachmaninoff, Gershwin, and Lutoslawski in this memorable Grand Piano Celebration.

We are eagerly anticipating Saturday, September 24 with a return of Arts by George! Additionally please take note of our Dewberry School of Music Fall 2022 Concert Series featuring our Symphony Orchestra, Choirs, Symphonic Band, Wind Symphony, Jazz Ensembles, Opera, and much more!

Warmest regards,

Dr. Linda A. Monson, Director

Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music

Pictured Left: Prof. Jonathan Bisesi 

Pictured Right: Prof. John Spirtas 

Professors Jonathan Bisesi and John Spirtas will be Percussion Co-Coordinators beginning Fall 2022. In addition to teaching percussion, they are excited to work in-depth with the students outside of lessons, recruiting, and maintaining our unique assortment of percussion equipment from the smallest crotales to the five- octave marimbas. 

Their performing careers in the United States Marine Band and Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra directly contribute to our Mason students' understanding of the unique music field and potential performance opportunities.   

When Anne Catherine “Kitty” Fields (Music, 2023) isn't at her piano composing, she is engaged in a wide array of interests, from studying neuroscience to reading Carl Jung to enjoying bird songs on nature walks, in addition to cooking and baking.

Congratulations to Nicholas Thompson (BM Performance 2016 George Mason University) who is joining The President's Own United States Marine Band. Nicholas previously held the principal clarinet seat with the Lima (Ohio) Symphony Orchestra and the Flint (Mich.) Symphony Orchestra. Nicholas is excited to return to the Washington, DC area to join The President's Own United States Marine Band.