Dear Mason Music Family,

Bravo to our Mason Symphony Orchestra in their incredibly inspiring concert last night with a program featuring Revueltas, Coleridge-Taylor, and Brahms. Thanks to our Friends of Music at Mason for your wonderful support in joining us last night.  

Please join us for upcoming October events featuring our marvelous Dewberry School of Music students and faculty.

The Mason Fall Choral Festival Concert on Saturday, October 15 at 4 pm highlights our University Chamber Singers and University Chorale, led by Dr. Lisa Billingham, Director of Choral Activities. This Choral Festival also showcases three guest choirs from Heritage High School, Loudoun County High School, and West Potomac High School. 

Our Faculty Artist Showcase Recital on Sunday, October 16 at 3 pm promises to be an incredible afternoon of music-making by our Dewberry School of Music faculty artists in voice, strings, woodwinds, brass, piano, and composition.

The Mason Symphonic Band and Wind Symphony concert on Monday, October 17 at 8 pm is under the baton of Dr. William L. Lake, Jr., Mason's new Director of Concert Bands.  The concert highlights works of Strauss, Holst, Bach, Brahms, Shostakovich, Grainger, and Kevin Day, as well as a composition by Mason alumnus Carl Holmquist.  

Directed by Prof. Jim Carroll, the Mason Jazz Ensemble concert on Wednesday, October 19 at 8 pm pays tribute to the big bands of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Thad Jones, and Rob McConnell.

Mason Opera Scenes and Arias will be presented on Friday, October 21^st at 3 pm in Harris Theater featuring works by Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Puccini, Monteverdi, Bizet, and Johann Strauss, Jr. 

We are pleased to announce our live, in person 12:30 pm Departmental Recitals which are free and open to the public.  Additionally, please be aware that our Student Degree Recitals will occur live on campus and also will have a live stream viewing option (see calendar for complete listing).  

We look forward to seeing you at our October concerts and special events in our Dewberry School of Music as we celebrate the joy of music!

Dr. Linda A. Monson, Director

Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music

Arrive early to the Mason Bands first concert on October 17, 2022, to enjoy the Strauss Serenade in Eb, Op. 7 in the Center for the Arts lobby at 7:30 pm by members of the Mason Wind Symphony.  

All student recitals are free and open to the public. Student recitals will occur live and in-person. A live-stream link will be available as the recital date approaches for student degree recitals.

All departmental recitals are free and open to the public. Departmental recitals will occur live and in-person. 

Mason Arts at Home now has a new look and platform to make watching and browsing arts content even easier. This online platform is a digital stage and learning space featuring curated arts experiences including livestreamed concerts, releases of previously recorded content, behind-the-scenes talks with artists, and more.

A Grand Piano Celebration, recorded on Sunday, September 18 at 3 p.m. is now available on Mason Arts at Home for free viewing.­­­­­­ For more information about the new online platform and troubleshooting, please read the FAQs here.

Registration is entirely free, open to anyone, and takes less than one minute. Register for your free account and never miss out on digital programming from Mason Arts at Home.

Congratulations to Jon Farrington, Tuba Senior Performance Major, who is the newly elected Student Representative for the Dewberry School of Music. Jon will representing the student body at the faculty meetings for the 2022-2023 academic year. 

Jen Szabo, Graduate Flute Performance Major, has been selected to play second flute for the 2022-2023 season of the Northern Neck Symphony in Williamsburg. She is a student of Julianna Nickel.

Julie McDonald, MM 2017 and current DMA candidate, has been hired as an adjunct flute professor for Northern Virginia Community College.   

New Sound Collective, Mason's Contemporary Music Ensemble, will be performing at the New Music DC 2022 Conference on October 16 at 2:30 pm. New Sound Collective Director, Prof. John Janson, will be presenting research on original instruments invented by Hans Reichel with live demonstrations on replica instruments he created.

Mason Dewberry School of Music students Carlos Figueroa Dasilva is playing Michael Gordon's Industry, for amplified cello and electronics. Catherine Fields and Hunter Wirt are playing Catherine Fields' Atmospheric Study No. 1, for piano and vibraphone.

Pictured Above: Catherine Fields, Carlos Figueroa Dasilva, and Hunter Wirt

Alexandria, VA, October 3, 2022 – The Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) Alexandria Band celebrates its 45^th anniversary season with a free concert on Thursday, October 27 at 8 p.m. at The Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall. A highlight of the concert will be the world premiere of American composer Mark Camphouse’s newest work for symphonic band, Valor and Remembrance.  

Written by George Mason University Professor Emeritus of Music, Mark Camphouse, the composition honors U.S. Navy Mess Attendant 2^nd Class Doris Miller of Waco, TX who was the first African American recipient of the Navy Cross for his heroic actions aboard the USS West Virginia on December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor.  

Dr. Lisa Eckstein, (Dewberry School of Music, DMA 2021) and Associate Professor of Music at NOVA Alexandria Campus, says “We are thrilled that composer Mark Camphouse will be joining us for the premiere of his newest work. This is the final piece of his trilogy which celebrates courageous contributions of African Americans. The other two compositions honor Civil Rights Heroine Rosa Parks and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.”