Dear Mason Music Family,

Happy New Year! We are thrilled to announce our Spring 2026 Dewberry Faculty Artist Series (free Sunday concerts in Harris Theater) and Spring 2026 Dewberry School of Music Concert Series featuring our outstanding student ensembles and guest artists. We are also pleased to welcome several new adjunct classroom faculty and staff for the spring 2026 semester, as highlighted in this newsletter.

With warmest wishes for a new year filled with beautiful music to inspire and uplift,

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

Brandi Gladney joined our administrative staff as the new Temporary Assistant to the Director and Marketing Coordinator at the Dewberry School of Music. Brandi has an M.Ed. in Teacher Leadership and Curriculum Leadership from the University of Central Florida and a B.A. in Spanish from Rowan University in New Jersey. She attended a Visual and Performing Arts High School where she studied Vocal Performance, Piano and played in the Handbell Choir.

For the past 6 years Brandi has worked with Cru High School Innovation and Global Missions. She was a Spanish and ESL teacher in the U.S. for many years before teaching ESL to high level executives in Santiago, Chile. She has traveled the world as a Bilingual Flight Attendant. Having sung in many choirs and musical groups over the years, Brandi is honored to bring her passion for music, students and education to the Dewberry School of Music at George Mason University. 

Dr. Geoffrey Dean will be joining the Dewberry School of Music adjunct classroom faculty to teach Jazz/Commercial Class Piano for the Spring 2026 semester.  A renowned jazz pianist, composer, author, and educator based in the Washington DC area, Dr. Dean's music spans the entire genre of jazz from blues and hard bop influences to classical music, R&B and modern jazz.

Dr. Dean completed his undergraduate degree at the Berklee College of Music, a Masters of Jazz Studies degree at the University of Tennessee, and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Jazz Performance at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. Dr. Dean has performed across the country while educating students in the university setting over the last decade.  He recently authored an educational book on modern jazz piano/harmony titled “Kenny Kirkland’s Harmonic and Rhythmic Language: A Model For The Modern Jazz Pianist."  His educational publication is available at the esteemed Jamey Aebersold website Jazzbooks.com.

Dr. Dean has additionally contributed as an author for the Masterclass series in Downbeat Magazine. He has recorded and performed with notable jazz musicians including Terrell Stafford, Steve Turre, Charles Owens, Greg Tardy and many others. Geoffrey Dean is currently an artist on the Cellar Records jazz record label. 

Dr. Stephen Scott will be teaching a Music Programming course for the Music Technology Area in the Spring 2026 semester for the Dewberry School of Music.  Additionally, he is an adjunct professor in the College of Science at George Mason University, where he teaches data science, computational social science, and modeling & simulation courses. Dr. Scott is currently developing simulation models exploring the effects of climate change on commercial fisheries, along with Dr. Chris Kennedy of the George Mason University School of Environmental Science and Public Policy. Dr. Scott has focused on teaching computational modeling courses in a variety of programming languages including Python, Java, R, NetLogo, and MASON. 

Dr. Juan Megna will be teaching Aural Skills I in the Spring 2026 semester at George Mason University. A drummer/percussionist from Argentina who has lived for 12 years in Brazil, Juan earned his degree in Brazilian Popular Music at the State University of Campinas in 2008 . He earned his master's degree in jazz performance at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in 2017. Juan moved to Washington D.C. area to pursue a Doctor of Musical Arts at George Mason University with a concentration in Jazz Studies and graduated with the DMA degree in 2021.

In Brazil, he played and/or recorded with many prestigious artists such as Vinicius Dorin (Hermeto Pascoal), Jarbas Barbosa (Banda Mantiqueira), Rubinho Antunes, Felipe Silveira (Rosa Passos), Marcos Souza (Johnny Alf), Bruno Mangueira, Rafael dos Santos, Budi Garcia, Albano Sales among many others. Considered a versatile musician, he was part of many groups and ensembles, including the Unicamp Symphony Orchestra (Campinas, SP) and the Brazilian percussion Ensemble “Tambaleio” among others.

In Cincinnati, he was an active member of the local music scene. He played with Craig Bailey, Phil deGreg, Kim Pensyl, Rusty Burge, Aaron Jacobs among others. He also formed, with Thiago Camargo and Kevin Mc Clennan, the Brasa Trio, performing a repertoire of Brazilian Standards and new composers.

Juan Megna served as esteemed director of the Mason Latin American Ensemble. The Latin American Ensemble has performed at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, and in spring 2019, was awarded “Outstanding Performance – Graduate College, Latin group” in the 42nd annual DownBeat magazine Student Music Awards. Additionally, he was selected to present his clinic “The Brazilian 16th-note phrasing through Cabula rhythm, Samba, and Bossa Nova" at the Jazz Education Network (JEN) conference in New Orleans, LA.

As a performer in the DC musical scene, Dr. Juan Megna performs with Mike Cemprola, David Jernigan, Wade Beach, Cris Stiles, among others. He also plays with Latin local artists, such as Emmanuel Trifilio, Cristian Perez (Argentina), Cissa Paz and Rafael Pondé (Brazil).