Dear Mason Music Family,

How proud we were to have our outstanding Mason Music Education academic research highlighted at the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) National Conference last weekend with Music Education faculty and Ph.D. candidates in presentations, lectures, and posters. Also, Mason's Green Machine was selected as a featured performing ensemble!

You are invited to join us this month for an exciting line-up of diverse performances featuring our Dewberry School of Music student ensembles in Vocal Jazz, Instrumental Jazz, Strings, Percussion, New Sound Collective, Concert Bands, Opera, Steel Pan, Healing Arts, and much more as highlighted throughout this newsletter. 

Enjoy beautiful music at our free midday student departmental recitals and support our wonderful student artists by attending their degree recitals on campus. Please note that a live-stream viewing option is also available for each of our Student Degree Recitals.

We are pleased to reach out to prospective new students this week through our on-campus Shadow Days on November 7-8,  Brass Day on November 12 with a special performance by the Barclay Brass Ensemble, and our inaugural Double Reed Day on November 13.

Please save the date of Friday, November 18, at 8 pm for the Jazz4Justice™concert in Mason's Center for the Arts.  Established in 2001 by Fairfax, VA attorney Edward L. Weiner, Esq. and Founder of Mason Jazz Studies, Jim Carroll, Jazz4Justice™ is an award-winning annual concert presented by Legal Services of Northern Virginia (LSNV) and Mason Jazz Studies. Proceeds from the evening benefit LSNV to continue its mission of service to the Northern Virginia community as well as providing financial support to Mason Jazz Studies.

We thank you for supporting our Mason student artists.  We look forward to welcoming you to our many upcoming concerts and special events in our Dewberry School of Music as we celebrate the joy of music during this season of Thanksgiving.

With gratitude,

Dr. Linda A. Monson, Director

Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music

Join us on Friday, November 11 for the Autumn Melodies Concert.

Music in the Lobby is coordinated by Professor June Huang, Director of Strings, Dewberry School of Music and Fenwick Library.  Music in the Lobby features music by Mason students. Refreshments at the concert are provided courtesy of the Library's Strategic Marketing Advisory Committee (SMAC). 

Mason's Contemporary Music Ensemble New Sound Collective concert is Friday, November 11 at 8 pm in deLaski 3001. Fall Reflections will feature 10 Mason student composers with original compositions performed by our New Sound Collective Ensemble, under the direction of Prof. John Jansen. 

This concert is FREE and open to the public. No tickets required.

Dr. Stan Engebretson, recently retired from 31 years as Director of Choral Studies at George Mason University is delighted to announce that he will be “evolving” forward from his 17-year tenure as Artistic Director of the National Philharmonic Chorale at Strathmore Music Center this fall. The celebratory concert will be on November 12 with the massive Berlioz’ Requiem, calling for a 200 voice chorus, a 95 piece orchestra (including 4 brass bands positioned in various balconies in the hall), and a wonderful tenor floating the angelic Sanctus solo into the amazing Strathmore hall.

Tickets available at nationalphilharmonic.org 

Join Dr. Darden Purcell, the Mason Jazz Voice studio and Mason Jazz Vocal Ensemble for an evening of swinging standards, Brazilian repertoire and classic hits from the Great American Songbook! Special guests are Falls Church High School Jazzguars, directed by Mason alumni, Dr. CJ Redden-Liotta!

TICKETS: $12 General Public, $8 Seniors, $5 Students 

Attention Classical Musicians: A percussive approach to exploring differences, similarities, and a common beauty between minimalist and groove-based repertoire



Attention Everybody Else: Does music make you want to Dance? Why? Find out.

This concert is FREE and open to the public. No tickets required.

Directed by John Kocur, the Jazz Workshop explores the intersection of improvisation and composition in an atypical Jazz ensemble. This performance will feature some rare gems and Jazz classics by Oliver Nelson, Ella Fitzgerald, Charles Mingus, Mary Lou Williams and Cannonball Adderley.

This concert is FREE and open to the public. No tickets required.

Join Mason Jazz and Friends as we explore the roots and development of America's greatest contribution to the Arts — Jazz.

Established in 2001 by Fairfax, VA attorney Edward L. Weiner, Esq. and Founder of Mason Jazz Studies, Jim Carroll, Jazz4Justice™ is an award-winning annual concert presented by Legal Services of Northern Virginia (LSNV) and Mason Jazz Studies. Proceeds from the evening benefit LSNV to continue its mission of service to the Northern Virginia community as well as providing financial support for the Mason Jazz Studies department for scholarships, trips and recordings. Jam session immediately following the concert. Bring your instrument (or voice) and sit in! 

TICKETS: $20 Adults | $15 Seniors and Students

The Mason Symphonic Band, under the direction of Dr. William L. Lake, Jr., presents an evening of historical and contemporary works for wind ensemble featuring Malcolm Arnold's Prelude, Siciliano, and Rondo and Fisher Tull's Sketches on a Tudor Psalm. This concert opens with a unique juxtaposition of winds versus brass with Andrew Blair's anti-FANFARE for winds and Katahj Copley's Song for Ursa for Brass Choir. Washington, D.C. native Shelly Hanson's Islas y Motanas, a musical rumination about Cuban composer, Alejandro Garcia Caturla, concludes this concert. Photo by Will Martinez

Tickets: $12 General Public, $8 Seniors, $5 Students

The Healing Arts Ensemble is under the direction of Rita Gigliotti, PhD candidate in Music Education at Mason. The meditative and reflective experience will feature original compositions by students in the ensemble.

This concert is FREE and open to the public. No tickets required.

The Mason Steel Pan Ensemble (directed by Victor Provost) and Braddock Road Brass Band (directed by Graham Breedlove) team up on November 29, 8pm for concert in the Center for the Arts! Showcasing music of the Caribbean and beyond, as well as traditional New Orleans jazz and modern compositions, this concert is certain to entertain everyone!

This concert is FREE and open to the public. No tickets required.

Join us for a Wind Symphony concert, under the direction of Dr. William L. Lake, Jr., titled "Music for Uncommon Times". Over the past two years, society has experienced a collision of significant events and phenomena unimagined by previous generations. COVID-19 and social unrest are two experiences that have impacted how we live today and dream of tomorrow. In this concert, the Mason Wind Symphony presents works by living composers Valerie Coleman, Katahj Copley, and Joel Puckett that respond to these uncommon times with remembrance, reflection, and hope. There will be a 7:30pm Pre-Concert Discussion.

Photo by Will Martinez

Tickets: $12 General Public, $8 Seniors, $5 Students

The Dewberry School of Music’s Mason Opera presents Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors at the Hylton Performing Arts Center. This celebrated operetta by Italian-American composer and librettist Gian Carlo Menotti tells the classic story of the Magi’s journey to Bethlehem.

Friday, Dec. 2 at 3 pm and 8 pm and Saturday, Dec. 3 at 3 pm and 8 pm

Hylton Performing Arts Center

Tickets: $20 adult; $15 senior; $5 student

Join us for a joyous concert celebration by the Dewberry School of Music as we ring in the holiday season! The concert will showcase our Mason Symphony Orchestra conducted by Dr. Soo Han, and our Mason Choirs, conducted by Dr. Lisa Billingham. This evening will feature holiday favorites and festive new works performed by extraordinary student artists. Photos by Will Martinez

Tickets: $20 General Public, $15 Seniors, $5 Students

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 Music Education research shines at NAfME national conference with Mason Music faculty and PhD music education candidates in research presentations, posters, and lectures. Our congratulations to Randy Ward, MeHaley Babich, and Annamarie Bollino (PhD candidates in music education), and to Mason faculty Dr. Charles Ciorba (Director of Music Education), Dr. Tina Beveridge, Dr. Angela Ammerman, and Dr. William L. Lake, Jr.

Mason's Green Machine Ensemble, under the direction of Dr. Michael Nickens (aka "Doc Nix") was selected as a featured performing ensemble at this national conference.

Mason 5-2-5 Woodwind Quintet has been selected to perform at the Virginia Music Educators Association (VMEA) convention on Saturday, November 19 at 11:15 am as part of the Music in the Lobby Series, featuring works of Beach, Klughardt, and others. The students are Lisette Joo, flute, Michael Pagan, oboe, Elaine Hopkins, clarinet, Andrew Bell, bassoon and Alexandra Kowalski, horn-led by Mason Director of Woodwinds, Dr. Kathy Mulcahy.

The Dewberry School of Music hosted the inaugural String Day on Saturday, October 8. With expertise provided by Mason Strings Faculty, including Prof. June Huang, Director of Strings; Dr. Soo Han, Director of Orchestras; Dr. Joanna Owen, violin; Prof. Gerald Fowkes, cello; and Dr. Jessica Powell Eig, bass.

The day included instrument breakout sessions, ensemble classes, and a Parent Q&A session. Pictured left are over 50 local strings students who participated in this engaging and educational event.

Prof. June Huang, Dewberry School of Music's Director of Strings presented “Teaching Sight-Reading Skills" at the Virginia Music Teachers Association (VMTA) Conference held last week at Liberty University. Prof. Huang is pictured with Kim Parker, the (VMTA) President-Elect.

Prof. Huang will be presenting at the national ASTA Conference this spring in Orlando, Florida.

Phi Mu Alpha and Professor Maiello got their picture taken to celebrate his Charles E. Lutton Man of Music award from this summer’s PMA convention in St. Louis. 

According to PMA’s national website, the award is “intended to be presented to a Sinfonian who, through significant musical activity, has distinguished himself, furthered the cause of music in America, and brought honor to Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.”

Dr. Jessica Powell Eig was part of a recording project earlier this year, Scott Ordway's choral opera, The Outer Edge of Youth, scored for three cellos and double bass. The composition is breathtaking and the two soloists, soprano Amy Broadbent and mezzo Emily Marvosh, are absolutely wonderful. The album is currently under consideration for this year's Grammy awards in the Classical Solo Vocal category and on the Grammy-nominated label, Acis.