Dear Mason Music Family,

I am thrilled to announce our Dewberry School of Music Fall 2025 Concert Series.  Tickets go on sale August 1^st for our Fall 2025 Series.  Please mark your calendars now for our inaugural concert of the series on September 21 with our Grand Piano Celebration concert and celebration of the 20^th Anniversary of our Friends of Music at Mason!  

We are excited to announce that Dr. Patrick LeStrange will be joining our Dewberry School of Music applied viola faculty for the upcoming academic year.  Welcome, Dr. LeStrange, to our Mason strings faculty!

We are looking forward to exciting weeks ahead with our Mason Community Arts Academy Summer Band Camp (June 15-20) and our Mason Jazz Camp (June 23-27). We hope you will join us for a free concert on Friday June 20 at 3 pm showcasing our summer band camp students. 

Everyone is invited to attend daily free jazz concerts (June 23-26) at 3:30 pm in our Center for the Arts Concert Hall. Performances will feature our Mason Jazz Faculty on June 23, Juan Megna- percussionist on June 24, Altin Sencalar- guest artist trombonist and composer on June 25, and the U.S. Navy Band Jazz Commodores on June 26.  Additionally, our Mason Jazz Camp Student Showcase will be held at 2 pm on Friday, June 27.  

We are so very proud of the accomplishments of our amazing students and faculty showcased in this newsletter.  Congratulations to all! 

This is a productive and wonderful summer as our music faculty, students, and alumni are performing locally, regionally, and globally.  I am looking forward to presenting lecture-recitals next week in Bogota and Medellin, Colombia as pianist and lecturer for the International Conference of the College Music Society.  

Warmest wishes for a marvelous summer filled with beautiful music, 

Dr. Linda A. Monson, Director

Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Patrick LeStrange, violist, will be joining our Dewberry School of Music, effective August 2025. Please join us in welcoming this exceptional musician to our Dewberry School of Music adjunct applied faculty in viola.

Dr. Patrick LeStrange, Adjunct Applied Faculty in Viola at the Dewberry School of Music at George Mason University, earned the Doctor of Music Interpretation and Master of Music from l’Université de Montréal, as well as a Bachelor of Music from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University. His primary teachers included Roberta Crawford, Victoria Chiang, Jutta Puchhammer-Sédillot, as well as string pedagogy studies with Rebecca Henry.

An advocate of the viola and string pedagogy, he is in high demand as a masterclass and strings clinician. Dr. LeStrange serves as strings department chair at Levine Music, Washington DC, where he oversees a thriving music program consisting of private lessons and group offerings.

The Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music, in proud partnership with the Mason Community Arts Academy, is thrilled to welcome students to the 3rd Annual Mason Summer Band Camp, led by Dr. William L. Lake, Jr., Director of Concert Bands in the Dewberry School of Music.

This year’s camp marks a record-breaking milestone, with 131 students from across the region coming together to engage in an exciting, high-impact week of music-making, collaboration, and personal growth. Designed for middle and high school instrumentalists of all levels, this immersive program offers a unique opportunity to develop musicianship in a fun and supportive environment.

Throughout the week, campers will participate in a robust schedule of sectionals, full ensemble rehearsals, and interactive electives tailored to expand their musical understanding and creativity. Elective offerings include So You Want to Be a Conductor, Music Theory Unplugged, and Introduction to Music Technology.

These courses, taught by Mason School of Music faculty, professional musicians, and dedicated teaching artists, are designed to spark curiosity, encourage exploration, and deepen students’ connections to their craft.

Whether learning new repertoire, refining ensemble skills, or exploring the latest innovations in music education, students will be guided by inspiring mentors who are passionate about helping young musicians flourish. The Mason Summer Band Camp continues to be a cornerstone of community engagement, arts education, and youth enrichment—and this year promises to be the most exciting yet.

We invite the public to join us in celebrating the culmination of this extraordinary week at the End-of-Camp Performance. The concert will take place in the Center for the Arts Concert Hall on Friday, June 20, 2025, at 3:00 PM. Admission is free and all are welcome to attend.

Come experience the energy, passion, and talent of the next generation of musicians as they take the stage and bring the hall to life. It will be an inspiring afternoon of music you won’t want to miss.

COMMUTER REGISTRATIONS STILL OPEN! Spots are Limited.

Open to Under-18 and Over-18 participants, Instrumentalists and Vocalists. We hope you'll join us for a week full of Jazz education, community and incredible performances! Camp questions can be directed to John Kocur at jkocur@gmu.edu.

Free and open to the public - no tickets or camp registration required. 

The Mason Jazz Camp faculty perform a special showcase to open the camp! Performances by Wade Beach (piano), Shawn Purcell (guitar), Ben Thomas (bass), Kevin McDonald (drums), Juan Megna (drums), Darden Purcell (voice), John Kocur (saxophone), Xavier Perez (saxophone), Jim Carroll (saxophone), Aaron Eckert (trombone), Graham Breedlove (trumpet) and more!  

Free and open to the public -

no tickets or camp registration required. 

Born in Argentina and professionally forged in the state of Sāo Paulo, Brazil, drummer, and percussionist Juan Megna carries a rich musical baggage expressed both as a performer and composer. Based in Washington DC, Juan Megna is a versatile musician that musically transits between Afro-Brazilian genres, Jazz, Argentinian milongas, and chacareras. He had played/recorded with Tedd Baker, Wade Beach, and Shawn Purcell, as well as well-regarded Brazilian artists such as Vinicius Dorim, Rubinho Antunes, Bruno Mangueira, and Felipe Silveira among others. Juan Megna’s debut album, entitled “Mariwô”, performs music inspired mostly by Afro-Brazilian Candomblé rhythms and traditional tunes.

Free and open to the public - no tickets or camp registration required.

The Mason Jazz Camp 2025 presents our very special guest artist - American trombonist, composer, and educator, ALTIN SENCALAR! 

Hailed by Stereophile Magazine for “sound[ing] like 21st-century grandchildren of JJ Johnson and Kai Winding” (with his co-bandleader Chris Glassman) and praised by the International Trombone Associations Journal for his “virtuosity [and] melodic and harmonic mastery,” Altin Sencalar is in high demand across the country as a performer, educator, and composer.

Free and open to the public - no tickets or camp registration required.

Jazz is America's music and the U.S. Navy Band Commodores, the Navy's premier jazz ensemble, have been performing the very best of big band jazz for the Navy and the nation for 50 years. Formed in 1969, this 18-member group continues the jazz big band legacy with some of the finest musicians in the world. The Commodores' mission includes public concerts, national concert tours, ceremonial support in honoring our veterans, jazz education classes and clinics, and protocol performances for high-level military and civilian government officials. The Commodores are held in high regard nationwide by concert patrons and critics alike. The list of guest artists that have appeared with the Commodores reads like a who's who of jazz and popular music: Ray Charles, Branford Marsalis, Clark Terry, Grover Washington Jr., Chris Potter, Jerry Bergonzi, Eddie Daniels, James Moody and many more. They have appeared on television shows, played nearly all major jazz festivals and toured across the United States and abroad.

Free and open to the public -

no tickets or camp registration required.

Participants of the Mason Jazz camp perform a student showcase to conclude the week-long camp!  

The Mason Wind Conducting Symposium offers an immersive and transformative professional development experience for conductors and educators at every stage of their career, from K–12 to the professional level. This dynamic program focuses on expanding your gestural vocabulary, refining ensemble leadership skills, and igniting your artistic potential.

Participants will discover innovative approaches to score study, movement, and rehearsal techniques through engaging large-group masterclasses, insightful seminars, and tailored one-on-one feedback.

Over two days, participants will gain invaluable guidance and constructive feedback from expert conducting faculty on gestural communication with a live ensemble. In addition to performing, participants will collaborate in group score study sessions, gain inspiration by observing their peers, and contribute as active ensemble members when not leading. This year’s special guest clinician is the extraordinary Dr. T. André Feagin, Director of Bands and Associate Professor at Central Washington University.

Article by Shayla Brown

May 28, 2025

Photo by Emily Schneider

"George Mason University music professor June Huang sees connections between musical collaboration and peacebuilding, and she and her students demonstrate those connections with The Spheres Project, a strings faculty and student collaborative space established in 2021.



The project aims to foster connection and conversation between different communities and the name emphasizes its constant state of evolution.

“I looked at how creativity is at the heart of peacebuilding and experimented with this concept with five of my string pedagogy students. We started exploring compositions of these concepts and having rehearsals,” said Huang, who is the director of strings and associate professor of violin in the Dewberry School of Music...The group’s most recent event, Spheres of Engagement was a collaboration between project, Dewberry School director of composition Andrea Reinkemeyer, and the University Libraries’ Special Collection Research Center (SCRC), with Cindy Badilla-Meléndez, George Mason’s music and media librarian where the students sourced images on which to base their compositions."

Congratulations to Prof. Joe Walsh, Associate Professor of Music and Theatre on winning the Helen Hayes award for Outstanding Musical Director. It was for the play, The Nance, which we presented at Tyson’s 1^st Stage Theater in April of 2024. 

“The Helen Hayes Awards recognize outstanding achievement from professional theatres and theatre-makers across the Washington, DC region. Named for the legendary First Lady of the American Theatre, Helen Hayes, the awards celebrate the artists and companies whose work makes the Washington, DC-area a thriving, nationally recognized theatre community.”

The play premiered on Broadway in 2013, starring Nathan Lane and was broadcast on Live From Lincoln Center in 2014, around the time of the legalization of same sex marriage across our country. The story is about a beautiful, yet heartbreaking gay relationship that occurs in 1937, against the historical backdrop of New York’s Mayor Laguardia’s attempt to persecute the gay community.  

"I am so proud and honored to be a George Mason faculty member and a member of the larger Washington, D.C. theater and opera community" shared Prof. Walsh upon this prestigious recognition.

Congratulations to Telah Harper on being selected for the Presser Foundation Award for Academic Excellence.

Telah has been an effective leader in positions such as Principal Second Violin in the Mason Symphony Orchestra. More important, however, are the ways in which Telah leads by example, shares Prof. June Huang, director of Strings.

She embraces learning experiences and approaches challenges with vigor and tenacity. To her, that means being in the practice room by 8:00 a.m., completing a minor in string pedagogy, and leading the pit orchestra for the fall musical while preparing her degree recital. In her quiet way, she is saying, “If I can do it, then you can too!” Her excellence in musicianship, citizenship, and leadership inspires me greatly. She is poised to be a major force in the next generation of music educators."

Congratulations to Dr. Calvin Evans, Jr. (DMA Composition 2025) for earning first place in the Southeastern Composers League 2025 Philip Slates Memorial Competition for Graduate Students.

The SCL was Founded in 1950, the Southeastern Composers League is an association of art music composers and scholars located throughout the Southeastern United States. It is one of the oldest organizations of its kind in America. It holds an annual call for scores for undergraduate and graduate students.

Undergraduate Academic Studies Achievement Award 

Annette Lee 

Emma Stewart 

Jessica Taylor  

Telah Harper 

Ross Calvin 

Undergraduate Performance Achievement Award 

Nareg Boghosian 

Andrew Bell 

Elaine Hopkins 

Marcos Sonnenberg-Nieves 

Graduate Academic Studies Achievement Award: 

Calvin Evans 

Julie McDonald  

Ahn Nguyen 

Graduate Performance Achievement Award: 

GaYoung Lee

Derik Wright 

Ya-Chi Tang 

Departmental Service Award: 

Annette Lee 

Treyvian Samuel Clark 

Mj Carpenter