Dear Mason School of Music Family,
Kudos to our Mason music students, faculty, and alumni for tremendous summer accomplishments highlighted in this newsletter. Many of our Mason music students and faculty have been participating in fantastic summer music festivals across the country. In addition, we have enjoyed a wonderful July and August at Mason with thriving musical activity on our campus coordinated by our
Mason Community Arts Academy
(Orff/Kodaly professional teacher development courses, piano camps for teens, musical theater camps for kids, etc.)
How exciting it is to welcome back our returning music students and to greet our 115 new music majors in the upcoming two weeks. We are also thrilled to welcome our new full-time Academic Advisor, Rebecca Pfingstl, to our School of Music staff.
Three of our outstanding faculty members have announced their retirement or relocation plans. We offer our profound thanks to Dr. Joanne Haroutounian (piano pedagogy), Prof. Amy Baumgarten (cello), and Dr. Stan Curtis (trumpet) for many years of dedicated and loyal service to our School of Music. Our students have benefited greatly from their tremendous teaching expertise, artistry, and mentorship.
Molly Baldovin, Assistant to the Director and Marketing Coordinator, is relocating to New York City the end of August. Molly has been an integral part of the daily operations of our School of Music for the past four years. I will miss her so very much as my wonderful assistant! A search will commence soon for her replacement (full-time classified staff position).
Please join us for our Fall 2018 School of Music Concert Series. We are thrilled to kick off our season with the
Grand Piano Celebration Concert
on Sunday, September 23, 3 pm, in our Concert Hall. We hope to see you there!
Warm regards,
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Dr. Linda A. Monson
Director, School of Music
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Welcome Rebecca Pfingstl!
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Welcome to our new
Academic Advisor
, Rebecca Pfingstl! Rebecca is a graduate of Youngstown State University (YSU) where she completed a Master’s degree in Student Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Performance (harp).
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Save the Date:
Grand Piano Celebration
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Featuring Dr. Linda Apple Monson, pianist,
in collaboration with
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Dr. Elissa Alvarez, soprano
Dr. Kathleen Mulcahy, clarinet
Dr. Anna Balakerskaia, duo piano
Dr. John Healey & Dr. Eunae Ko Han
Finale 8-hand performance with 4 pianists!
Also featuring outstanding student piano artists
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Farewell to Faculty & Staff
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Thank you for your extraordinary service to our School of Music. You will be deeply missed by all of us!
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Dr. Joanne Haroutounian, keyboard pedagogy.
Read more.
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Molly Baldovin, Assistant to the Director
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Crystal Golden Wins 1st Place in National Vocal Competition
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Prof. Patricia Miller, Director of Vocal Studies, and Crystal Golden
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The George Mason University School of Music is proud to announce
Crystal Golden
(MM '19), soprano, is the First Place winner in the Graduate / Advanced College Women category of the 2018 National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) NSA Vocal Competition. The final competition round of the NATS 2018 National Student Auditions (NSA) was held at the Tropicana in Las Vegas, Nevada, on June 24, 2018 as part of the 55th National Conference of the National Association of Teachers of Singing.
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Sewanee Summer Music Festival
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Many Mason faculty and students participated in the 2018 Sewanee Summer Music Festival in the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee.
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Prof. John Kilkenny,
Sewanee Artistic Director
& Director of Percussion Studies at Mason.
Photography by Farris
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Mason Music students Emily Craine, Sophie Heeden, and Josh Ellis were selected as arts management staff for the festival.
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Mason students and faculty at Sewanee:
Prof. John Kilkenny, Artistic Director; Paul Zybak; Sophie Heeden; Dr. Linda Monson, Guest Piano Masterclass Artist;
Alvin Macasero;
Emily Craine; Josh Ellis; Rob Esposito; David Cho. Not pictured: Jaclyn Kitcoff, Nick McKee, Eddie Adams, Hayden Busby, and Prof. Mark Camphouse, Guest Composer.
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Zach Strickland
(BM Percussion '20) participated in the Aspen Summer Music Festival in Aspen, Colorado.
He had the opportunity to study with Cynthia Yeh, Principal Percussionist of the Chicago Symphony, and Jonathan Haas of New York University.
He also performed in several ensembles ranging from small mixed chamber ensembles to faculty orchestras made up of members of major orchestras throughout the U.S.
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Mason Strings Community Outreach Performances
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Mason string students and Prof. June Huang, Director of Strings performed at
Aarondale Retirement and Assisted Living Community, Springfield.
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Mark Evans, cellist, served as Prof. June Huang's assistant at the Levine summer strings camp, Washington, D.C.
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Mason Pianists Excel Internationally
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Mark Irchai, BM 2018, was awarded 3rd prize at the
eMuse International Internet Music Competition! To apply to the competition, Mark submitted his recording of Nikolai Medtner's Sonata Reminiscenza.
Mark Irchai was also awarded 1st prize at the
IMKA International Internet Music Competition!
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Three of Mason's outstanding international student pianists performed a concert in Suzhou, China in August.
Yiyao Hao, Minne Zhang, and Hakyoung Kelly Park
(graduate piano students of Dr. Monson), performed a concert of repertoire spanning Bach to Ginastera. The concert was live streamed and viewed by over 2000 people.
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Martin Gallegos
, MM 2015, a native of Lima, Peru, competed in the
final round of the 16th Washington International Piano Artists Competition
at The Cosmos Club, Washington, DC, August 5, 2018. Martin won prizes in the Baroque Period and Contemporary Period categories.
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Dr. Megan Lavengood, theory, presented a poster at an international conference on timbre in Quebec. You can check out her informational poster
here.
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Dr. Lisa Billingham, Director of Graduate Studies, met with local choirs in Nairobi, Kenya in August in preparation for her spring 2019 study abroad class with University Chorale.
Learn more about this opportunity.
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Dr. Lisa Billingham conducts a girls school choir in Nairobi, Kenya.
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Music Faculty Win Grant Competition
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A team of School of Music faculty was selected as one of the winners of the 2018
Provost’s Curriculum Impact Grant (CIG) competition.
Congratulations to
Dr.
Megan Lavengood, Prof. June Huang, Dr. Tom Owens, and Dr. Elaine Rendler
on their submission to fund a redesign of the music theory curriculum.
This seed grant program supports the generation of innovative curricular ideas and pilot programs that enhance Mason Impact and other cross-unit, multidisciplinary undergraduate and graduate curriculum development activities. These projects represent an impressive array of collaborations across colleges and schools aiming to create high-impact learning experiences for students, deepen their engagement and development, and prepare them for substantive impact on the world.
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Mary-Hannah Klontz, DMA 2017, created a new edition of
Arnold Schoenberg’s six-part a cappella choral masterwork, “De Profundis” (Psalm 130). The new edition is Schoenberg’s last completed work.
Read more.
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See what's happening on our social sites:
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