Dear Mason Music Family,

We invite you to join us for our Dewberry Faculty Artist Series this Sunday, February 22 at 3 pm featuring Professor Christopher Jewell, bassoon, & Friends and at 7 pm for our Brass Faculty Artist Showcase Recital.  Our final Dewberry Faculty Artist Series Recital "Music Across Borders" will feature Dr. Laura Kaufman Mowry, flute & Friends on Sunday, March 1 at 7 pm.  These upcoming concerts showcasing our extraordinary performance faculty are free and are held in Harris Theatre. 

It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our dear colleague, Professor Lisa Berger, who has served our vocal studies area with distinction for these past 22 years.  She will be greatly missed by our Dewberry School of Music students and faculty.  A memorial service will be held this Saturday, February 21, at 10 am at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 2589 Chain Bridge Rd, Vienna, VA 22181.

Please purchase your tickets now for our Mason Bands Concert on Tuesday, February 24 at 7.30 pm in our Center for the Arts Concert Hall. This concert features the Mason Wind Symphony, Mason Symphonic Band, and also the West Springfield High School Band. The third concert of the Mason Bands 55th Anniversary season, Dope, is a celebration of power and identity.  Additionally, we are thrilled to celebrate the Mason Bands 55th Anniversary on April 16-18, 2026. Please register now to experience three unforgettable days of celebration, including rehearsal of the Alumni Concert Band https://alumni.gmu.edu/masonbands55

Trombonist Vaughn Wiester, Artist-in-Residence at Mason on February 26 - 28, will present a free masterclass on Friday, February 27 at 3 pm. Please purchase your tickets now for the Mason Jazz Ensemble concert on Thursday February 26 at 8 pm with Vaughn Wiester and also for the Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra on Saturday February 28 at 8 pm featuring "The Music of Stan Kenton."

We hope you will join us for amazing concerts the first week of March, including the Mason Symphony Orchestra concert on Monday, March 2 at 8 pm; the George Mason University Singers and NOVA Annandale Chorale concert on Tuesday, March 3 at 8 pm; and the String Studio Recital on Thursday March 5. 

We are pleased to celebrate the Friends of Music at Mason 20th Anniversary throughout this Spring 2026 season of concerts. Thanks to our wonderful Friends of Music at Mason for your continual support of our students!

Warm regards,

Dr. Linda A. Monson, Director
Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music

It is with profound sadness and heavy hearts that we inform you of the passing of our dear colleague and friend, Professor Lisa Berger.  We have lost a great soprano, an incredible artist and teacher, and a phenomenal human being.  We are heartbroken with the news of her passing on February 8. 

We were fortunate to have Prof. Lisa Berger on our Dewberry School of Music Vocal Studies faculty for 22 years.  She will be greatly missed by our music students and faculty.  Her legacy continues through the lives of the many vocal students she has taught and mentored over the years. 

A funeral service will be held this Saturday, February 21 at 10 am at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 2589 Chain Bridge Rd, Vienna, VA 22181. We offer our heartfelt condolences to her family and to all who loved this wonderful artist and teacher.  We know that Professor Berger's beautiful soprano voice will now be singing with the angels.   

From April 16-18, 2026, experience three unforgettable days of celebration, including rehearsal of the Mason Alumni Concert Band (Thursday, April 16), featuring the Mason Wind Symphony and Symphonic Band (Friday, April 17), and Anniversary Luncheon (Saturday, April 18).  General admission tickets to the 55th Anniversary Concert on Friday, April 17, 2026, are now available through the Center for the Arts ticket office. For more information and to register now: https://alumni.gmu.edu/masonbands55

Join us for an exciting evening of big band brilliance as the Mason Jazz Ensemble welcomes acclaimed arranger, conductor, and trombonist Vaughn Wiester as special guest and artist-in-residence on Thursday February 26 in Harris Theatre. Known for his deep ties to the legacy of Stan Kenton and his own long-running “Famous Jazz Orchestra” in Columbus, Ohio, Mr. Wiester will conduct a program featuring many of his own powerful and sophisticated arrangements. This special residency precedes Mr. Wiester’s guest appearance with the Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra in a high-energy Stan Kenton Tribute concert on Saturday February 28.

METROPOLITAN JAZZ ORCHESTRA with VAUGHN WIESTER: February 28, 2026 (CFA)

The Music of Stan Kenton

VAUGHN WIESTER: ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE: February 26-28, 2026 

Trombonist Vaughn Wiester will be an "Artist-in-Residence" with the George Mason Jazz Department, February 26 - 28, 2026.  Wiester is a veteran of groups including the Woody Herman band, the Columbus Jazz Orchestra and his own Famous Jazz Orchestra. He served on the faculty at Capital University as part of the pioneering Jazz Studies degree program and throughout his 17-year association, taught courses in jazz arranging and jazz history and directed the prize-winning big Band Sound Big Band. Wiester's arrangements can be heard on recordings by Woody Herman, Waldo's Ragtime Orchestra and the Columbus Jazz Orchestra.

The Mason Symphony Orchestra, led by Dr. Soo Han, will feature Dvořák's Symphony No. 8. Additionally, Concerto Competition winner Suyuan Carrasco, violinist, will be featured in Korngold's Violin Concerto, and Christopher Bell, graduate composer, will have his work, Nostalgia Preserves performed by the MSO. We hope you'll join us for this celebration of creativity and expression!

We invite you on a choral musical journey of hope, courage, and belonging of immigrant and first-generation choral composers. Featuring works by Melissa Dunphy, Caroline Shaw, and Randall Thompson, this collaboration between the NOVA- Annandale Choir under conductor James Wolter and the George Mason University Singers will share songs of strength, dreams, and the search for home. We are honored to have five string players (representing string faculty and students) that will collaborate with us on the Caroline Shaw work To the Hands.

Andrew Wood, Trumpet, Doctoral Lecture Recital
Saturday, February 21 at 10:00 a.m.
Harris Theatre

Mackenzie Ward, Clarinet, Non-Degree Recital
Saturday, February 28 at 5:00 p.m.
deLaski 3001

Ying Yang, Piano, Doctoral Lecture Recital
Wednesday, March 4 at 7:00 p.m.
Harris Theatre

Jiye Kim, Piano, Doctoral Lecture Recital
Friday, March 6 at 7:00 p.m.
Harris Theatre

Michael Stern, Conducting, Doctoral Lecture Recital
Sunday, March 8 at 2:00 p.m.
Sligo Seventh Day Adventist Church

Composition graduate student Ronald Walton has been accepted into the Brazilian Orchestral Summit Program for the summer of 2026.  During the residency, he will work closely with the Brasília Symphony Orchestra, gaining invaluable experience in orchestral collaboration, rehearsal process, and contemporary composition on an international stage.