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Notes from the Director
Dr. Linda A. Monson
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Dear Mason School of Music Family,
This is an intensely busy time within our School of Music, as you will read throughout this newsletter. We are grateful for all of the wonderful musical performances, lectures and masterclasses, and proud of the accomplishments of our students, faculty, and alumni! How thrilled we are to have phenomenal Mason vocalists earning awards and honors at the National Association of Teachers of Singing last weekend!
I want to express my deep thanks to two terrific faculty colleagues who work closely with me in administrative roles within our School of Music:
Dr. Tom Owens, Associate Director; and
Dr. Lisa Billingham, Director of Graduate Studies. Both of these dedicated colleagues are working tirelessly to assist and advance our School of Music in myriad ways. I am extremely grateful for their commitment, expertise, and fantastic work.
We are in the midst of conducting national searches for School of Music tenure-track positions for the upcoming academic year (PhD in Music Theory and PhD in Music Education).
Our music faculty search committees have been working hard; we are extremely pleased to welcome qualified candidates to our campus this month for interviews, teaching and research presentations. We are also thrilled to announce a new full-time term faculty position for Director of Strings (applied artist-teacher position).
In addition, we are in the midst of a search for a new full-time registered piano technician for our School of Music. We held a farewell reception for our current piano technician Katrina Sapp earlier this week; she will be greatly missed by all of us. We wish Katrina well as she embraces new opportunities.
Read about her experience at Mason here.
We look forward to a wonderful month ahead as we continue to make the
music and learning experience happen in profound ways for our students. Thanks to each of you for all that you do to help support our Mason School of Music.
We are grateful to our Friends of Music at Mason for a memorable and awesome Mardi Gras event last Saturday evening, in support of music scholarships. We look forward to seeing you at our upcoming concerts and special events.
Warmest regards,
Dr. Linda A. Monson
Director, School of Music
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Congratulations to all Mason vocalists who recently competed in the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) competition!
The following Mason students have been awarded prizes and honors in this prestigious event and are now eligible to compete in the regional level of NATS. Vocal categories within the NATS competition included Adult Women, Adult Men, Advanced College/Independent Studio Men and Women, etc.
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Crystal Golden, 2016 Mason alumna
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Dongkeon Kim,
M.M. Vocal Performance (Student of Prof. Patricia Miller)
Brittany Michaelsen-Mulkey,
M.M. Vocal Performance 2017 (Student of Prof. Miller)
Na Ae Park,
Artist Certificate Vocal Performance 2018 (Student of Prof. Miller)
Daniel Smith,
M.M. Vocal Performance 2017 (Student of Prof. Miller)
Second Place
Sarah Fitzsimmons,
B.M. Vocal Performance 2020 (Student of Prof. Miller)
Crystal Golden,
B.M. Vocal Performance 2016 alumna (Student of Prof. Miller)
Allison Kraft,
B.M. Vocal Performance 2017 (Student of Dr. Kathryn Hearden)
Third Place
Andrea Newsome,
B.M. Vocal Studies 2019 (Student of Dr. Mira Yang)
Anjanette Trebing,
Artist Certificate Vocal Performance 2017 (Student of Prof. Miller)
Honors
Elizabeth Bozhich,
B.M. Vocal Performance 2019 (Student of Prof. Miller)
Natalie Duchen,
M.M. Vocal Performance 2018 (Student of Dr. Hearden)
Michelle Fegeas,
D.M.A. Vocal Performance 2018 (Student of Prof. Miller)
Grace Eun
Kim,
B.A. 2019 (Student of Dr. Yang)
Veronica Kokas,
M.M. Vocal Performance 2018 (Student of Prof. Miller)
Audrey Layendecker,
B.M. Vocal Performance 2017 (Student of Prof. Lisa Berger)
Nancy McClain,
B.M. Vocal Performance 2020 (Student of Prof. Berger)
Frances Mitchem-Diego,
M.M. Vocal Performance 2017 (Student of Dr. Hearden)
Ashlyn Rock,
B.M. Vocal Performance 2019 (Student of Prof. Berger)
Karen Smith,
B.M. Vocal Performance 2019 (Student of Dr. Hearden)
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Amici Musicae (Translated to “Friends of Music”) is a famous ensemble of professional singers and instrumentalists in Leipzig, Germany where they present their Baroque concert series in the St. Thomas Kirche, Leipzig Gewandhaus, and other venues throughout Germany. This February, they made a 12 day trip to the US to be in residence with three choirs, culminating in a final performance presented by the combined groups, including the George Mason University Singers, in Princeton, NJ. While at George Mason last week they presented a formal cantata concert, rehearsed with the University Singers, taught private lessons, gave a master class in the Music of J. S. Bach and the interpretation of Baroque music, and coached our student conductors in a combined conducting class. It was a great experience for all of us to see and hear fine artists interpret Bach in such an authentic manner, from musicians who specialize in this repertoire, most of whom began singing and playing Bach in their early childhood.
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Above: Final concert with combined ensembles, presented 2/25/17 in the historic Princeton Theological Seminary Chapel located on the Princeton University campus in Princeton, NJ. Photo Credit: Stan Engebretson
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University Singers
Sunday, March 5 at 4:00 PM
Center for the Arts Lobby
FREE
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Come and hear the University Singers present a wide-ranging program in our new space, the Center for the Arts Lobby, with its cathedral-like ceilings and acoustics!
The concert will open with excerpts from J. S. Bach’s
Cantata BWV191,
Gloria in Excelsis Deo, and
Cantata BWV 29, Wir Danken dir. Then we feature Brahms' spirited and wild
Gypsy Songs (Zigeunerleben) followed by
Five Hebrew Songs by popular American composer, Eric Whitacre. Rounding out the delightful afternoon concert will be American folk music and spirituals. Gerry Kavinski and Dr. Stan Engebretson will conduct, accompanied by Mrs. Jane Kaye on piano.
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Don't miss the last installment of Beyond the Notes,
our spring lecture series!
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Musical Intimacy, Transnational Counterpublics,
& Patagonian Tradition
(With a brief introduction to the field of ethnomusicology)
Associate Professor of Music,
George Mason University
Monday, March 6
de Laski 3001 12:30 PM
FREE
This presentation will begin with a broad overview of the field of ethnomusicology and an examination of the ways in which scholars in this field make research claims. This introduction will set the stage for a more specific inquiry into musical values in the Region of Aysén, in Chilean Patagonia, where the author has conducted research since 2004. In this region, musicians and listeners claim early twentieth-century Argentine popular music for accordion and guitar as local tradition and use it to express deeply felt sentiments of Chilean patriotism. The research presented here is part of a broader effort to understand how this social group defines tradition such that this music is traditional.
This presentation analyzes two of the early songs to come out of this traditionalist movement, in order to argue that the borders between intimate and dominant public spheres operate at the heart of—and in turn help to define—many of the socially constructed boundaries that define regional culture--Chile/Argentina, insider/outsider, and past/present. Drawing on notions of intimacy, publicity, and counterpublicity developed by Lauren Berlant (2000, 2008), Michael Warner (2005), Martin Stokes (2010), and Byron Dueck (2013), this presentation examines how these songs’ texts, invocations of genre conventions, and circulation via mass media work to address and thereby constitute an intimate regional public while simultaneously creating a space for it within the national public sphere.
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Wind Symphony and Symphonic Band
Tuesday, March 7
Concert Hall 8:00 PM
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Enjoy the beautiful music of GMU Wind Symphony (Prof. Mark Camphouse, Conductor), GMU Symphonic Band (Profs. John Kilkenny and Dennis Stokes, Conductors), and John Champe High School featuring works by Clifton Williams, Richard Saucedo, Ron Nelson, Michael Markowski, Vincent Oppido (Mason alumnus), Victor Babin, Edward Knoeckel (Mason DMA Composition candidate), and more!
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New Sound Collective Contemporary Music Ensemble
Wednesday, March 8
Harris Theatre 7:00 PM
FREE
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The New Sound Collective is a collective of composers and performers interested in creating and promoting new music, including works by Mason composers. Come enjoy this free performance.
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Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra featuring New York Voices
Saturday, March 11
Center for the Arts
8:00 PM
Join us for a Pre-Performance Discussion
45 minutes prior to curtain!
Step into the era of swinging beats and brassy big band sounds as the Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra teams up with the dynamic vocal jazz quartet, New York Voices, for this very special performance. Musical Director and alto sax virtuoso Jim Carroll leads this renowned jazz orchestra, composed of the metro-area's best jazz musicians, is led by Musical Director and alto sax virtuoso Jim Carroll. For this concert, they team up with the polished and playful quartet, New York Voices whose soulful scats, close-knit voicings, and unparalleled vocal blend have earned them critical acclaim for more than 25 years. New York Voices is "the most exciting vocal ensemble in current jazz." (Boston Herald) Together, these ensembles create an evening of jazz magic.
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New York Voices - "I'll Be Seeing You" (A Capella)
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Music Library Grand Opening
All music collections (including books, scores, LPs, and CDs) have been moved from their long-time home in Gateway Library to 2600 Fenwick Library. Please join the University Libraries on Tuesday, March 21, for a host of events to celebrate the Music Library’s new location. For more information, contact Steve Gerber, Music and Theater Librarian,
[email protected]
, 703-993-9051.
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Faculty Artist Series
Only a few dates remain!
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This series features outstanding School of Music artist faculty in solo or ensemble recitals. Support our faculty and enjoy complimentary admission provided by the School of Music.
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Matinee Idylls:
Linda Apple Monson and Friends:
The Art of the Piano
March 28 at 1:30 PM
Hylton Performing Arts Center
Lunch 12:30 pm; Concert 1:30 pm
Join International Steinway Artist Linda Apple Monson and her esteemed colleagues for an afternoon of thrilling piano music. This exciting program includes works for solo piano, voice and piano, and duo-piano. Don't miss this afternoon of inspiring repertoire, including Spanish masters Albeniz and Turina, German masters Bach and Beethoven, and Russian masters Prokofiev and Rubinstein. In addition, Mason composer Glenn Smith's solo piano work "Whirling Dervish" (composed for Monson in 2010) will be performed. Monson will be joined by coloratura soprano Lisa Berger; lyric tenor, Seong Nam; and pianist Anna Balakerskaia.
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Congratulations to Dr. Emily Green, musicologist, on her recent publication!
Consuming Music: Individuals, Institutions, Communities, 1730-1830
Edited by Emily H. Green & Catherine Mayes
Eastman Studies in Music,
Univ. of Rochester Press, 2017
Who bought music in the long eighteenth century and how did those consumers know what music was available? Where was it sold and by whom? How did the consumption of music affect its composition? What individuals and market forces shaped consumers’ musical taste? This collection of nine essays investigates such questions from a variety of perspectives, each informed by parallels between the consumption of music and that of dance, visual art, literature, and philosophy in a variety of locations: France, the Austro-German lands, and the United States.
Contributors: Glenda Goodman; Roger Mathew Grant; Emily H. Green; Marie Sumner Lott; Catherine Mayes; Peter Mondelli, Rupert Ridgewell, Patrick Wood Uribe, Steven Zohn
Available for purchase
HERE. Use the code BB130 at checkout to receive a 30% discount.
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Music librarian and adjunct professor Steve Gerber has just published a critical edition of an autograph
manuscript score owned by Mason Libraries entitled Johan Arnold Dahmen: Three Cello Sonatas (A-R Editions, Middleton, WI). Dahmen was a Dutch-born musician who migrated to London and served as the principal cellist in Joseph Haydn's orchestra for the Salomon concerts in the 1790s. The duo-sonatas, written for two cellos and featuring three movements each, are classical in style.
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The H-B Woodlawn Chamber Singers, under the direction of Mason Alumnus
Bill
Podolski
, had the honor of performing at the Residence of the Vice President of the United States at the Naval Observatory for former Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden during their 2016 Christmas Parties.
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Mason Alumnus Bill Podolski, far right
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Emma McDermott (Mason BM Piano Performance 2011, Mason MM Vocal Performance 2013, and Manhattan School of Music professional studies certificate 2016) was recently awarded third place prize at the first National Society of Arts and Letters' DC chapter's Dorothy Lincoln-Smith Voice Competition held at the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. in February 2017. Emma sang
O patria mia from Verdi's Aida and
When I have sung my songs by Ernest Charles.
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here so we can feature you next!
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We want to hear about your recent professional or musical accomplishments so that we may share them with our Mason Music family!
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