School of Music

Dewberry School of Music Announces $5 Million Commitment for Scholarships

Pam Muirheid — Wed, 18 May 2022 17:15:16 +0000

Dewberry School of Music Announces $5 Million Commitment for Scholarships Pam Muirheid Wed, 05/18/2022 - 13:15

In This Story

School of Music students with Sid Dewberry (center) and Dr. Linda Monson (far left).

At this year’s Grand Piano Celebration, the school honored Sid Dewberry for his lifetime spirit of generosity.

The annual Grand Piano Celebration at ��ӽ紫ý, always dedicated to the joy of music, this year celebrated something more: the spirit of generosity embodied by Sidney O. Dewberry, in whose honor the school was recently renamed.

During the virtual event, livestreamed on Sunday afternoon, September 13, Linda Monson, director of the Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music, announced recent additional gifts from the Dewberrys that bring the total commitment for the Linda Apple Monson Scholars to $5 million.

Fulfilled through both current and pledged support, these gifts add to the Dr. Linda Apple Monson Scholars Endowed Fund, established by the Dewberrys to support scholarships for Mason music students. Additional generous donors to the endowed fund are Nina Toups, the Claude Moore Foundation, and Anne and Ronald Abramson.

“We are thrilled and honored that the school of music is now renamed the Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music in honor of the Dewberrys’ lifetime legacy of giving and generous support of our beloved school,” said Monson in the Grand Piano Celebration introduction.

“You’ve expressed that your dream is to put Mason music on top of the heap,” Monson continued. “Well, it’s happening. Your transformational gifts of incredible scholarship endowment support for our Mason music students are indeed helping to make this dream come true.”

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Dewberry School of Music

World Premiere Compositions to Debut this Weekend

Pam Muirheid — Wed, 05 May 2021 15:23:44 +0000

World Premiere Compositions to Debut this Weekend Pam Muirheid Wed, 05/05/2021 - 11:23

In This Story

Dr. Michael Nickens

Renowned composer Evelyn Simpson-Curenton and Mason’s own Associate Professor of Music and Director of the Green Machine Ensembles Michael W. Nickens (Doc Nix).

The Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music presents A Song of Freedom: Featuring World Premieres by Evelyn Simpson-Curenton and Michael W. Nickens, Saturday, May 8 at 8:00 p.m. as part of Mason Arts at Home. The concert celebrates unity and resilience in the face of division and uncertainty and showcases works by Black composers as well as selections inspired by the African-American experience.

The program’s world premieres are commissions by the Dewberry School of Music from renowned composer Evelyn Simpson-Curenton and Mason’s own Associate Professor of Music and Director of the Green Machine Ensembles Michael W. Nickens (Doc Nix).

“This magnificent concert is a true collaboration across our Dewberry School of Music students, staff, and faculty and is a celebratory finale to an unparalleled year. We heard clearly from our students that ‘representation matters,’ and our music faculty resolved to commission and highlight works by gifted Black composers for our May concert,” shared Dewberry School of Music Director Linda A. Monson. “Together we are using our gifts as artists to demonstrate the power of working together. I am so proud of the performances by our students and honored for the opportunity for the Dewberry School of Music to commission two remarkable compositions.”

Simpson-Curenton’s world premiere of Passages will feature current students from across the University Choirs, a guest solo appearance by School of Music alumna and Metropolitan Opera artist Aundi Marie Moore, as well as solos by current students Rosie Wright, Case Hope, and Eliyahu Young. Under the direction of the Director of Choral Studies, Stanley Engebretson, Passages uses phrases from the Bible and other sources and lifts up the ideals of justice and of loving the common good. Lyrics such as “sing now a song of freedom where all are inherently free” and “let justice roll down as water with righteousness, like an ever-flowing stream” guide the beautiful imagery within the music.

Reflecting on the piece, Engebretson shared, “Teaching and rehearsing this premiere by one of Washington’s most famous composers has been a great honor and privilege. It was a great delight to introduce her to Mason’s singers via Zoom so they could experience her amazing talents for themselves. Her brilliant piece captures the majesty of freedom with the call for us to ‘come together as one’ in a most empathic way.”

Nickens’s original work, titled The Orator, The Abolitionist, The Man: Frederick Douglass is based on the 1893 biography written by his great-great grandfather James Monroe Gregory, a contemporary of Douglass. His piece features the Mason Wind Symphony, members of the Green Machine, and spoken word derived directly from the biography and Douglass’ speeches, delivered as narration by Nickens himself.

Nickens’s piece is inspired by composers such as Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein as well as 90s hip hop artists including Wu-Tang Clan, who all unapologetically brought the local culture to the sound of the time. The piece’s musical style ebbs between orchestral, go-go, and hip hop layered with spirituals and Protestant hymns.

Nickens shared, “As a work very much in progress (the second movement of a larger composition I am creating), I am grateful to our students collaborating with me to bring this nine-month project to life. I hope all who experience it hear the narration both as an artifact of our American history and as an opportunity to connect with the enduring issues that are being addressed today.”

This pre-recorded digital concert features more than 100 students performing as part of the momentous event, including additional works ranging from works by distinguished Black composers such as William Grant Still and George Walker, to Antonin Dvorák, and U2’s “MLK.” The performance highlights students from the Mason Symphony Orchestra, University Choirs, Wind Symphony and Green Machine, Trombone Choir, Percussion Ensemble, and Tuba/Euphonium Ensemble.

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College of Visual and Performing Arts

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diversity equity and inclusion DEI

The Weilenmann Family Shares a Generous Gift of Music

Pam Muirheid — Tue, 23 Feb 2021 17:39:57 +0000

The Weilenmann Family Shares a Generous Gift of Music Pam Muirheid Tue, 02/23/2021 - 12:39

As a music instructor and a renowned conductor of symphony and opera, Richard Weilenmann dedicated his life to music and to developing young artists—building an enduring legacy over half a century of professional life.

When he passed away in 2017, Mr. Weilenmann left another exceptional legacy: a personal collection of more than 1,600 published pieces of music—including sheet music, conductors scores, and orchestral scores—spanning opera, classical, and other genres from the late 1800s to the present.

Now, thanks to Mr. Weilenmann’s vision and the generosity of his wife Elisabeth and son Peter Weilenmann, MEd ’07, that notable collection will reside with the Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music at ��ӽ紫ý. The Richard and Elisabeth Weilenmann Performance Music Library will be a resource for music research as well as for live performances at Mason.

“We are enormously grateful and rightfully proud to house this extraordinary music library collection at ��ӽ紫ý,” said Rick Davis, dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts. “This library will serve as a rich resource for our students and faculty alike and is a lasting tribute to Elisabeth and the late Richard Weilenmann’s dedication to making music accessible.”

Elisabeth and Richard Weilenmann

A well-known figure in the region’s music community, Richard Weilenmann was at various times the artistic director of the highly regarded Washington Civic Opera, the Arlington Opera Theatre, and the Beethoven Society. He worked for 43 years at the Landon School in Bethesda, Md., where he directed the music program and founded the Landon Symphonette. Earlier, during his time in the U.S. Navy, Mr. Weilenmann was an original member of the Navy Sea Chanters, a vocal chorus, and one of the piano accompanists for the Navy Band. Always intent on making opera accessible to all, he translated lyrics so they could be performed in English, and provided free tickets to Washington Civic Opera performances via the D.C. parks and recreation department.

The collection—which filled about 18 file cabinets in the Weilenmann family’s home, plus assorted boxes—includes ballet, Broadway musicals, classical symphonies, complete operas, and film music. It is valuable not only for its historical breadth and as a trove for music research, but as an aid for student and professional performances. “My dad would spend hours adding violin bowings in his own hand to many of the pieces,” said Peter Weilenmann, an assessment specialist for Arlington Public Schools. Those bowings—marks that instruct musicians on the stringed instruments how to play the piece—“are like the punctuation for the orchestra.”

When it came time to decide where to place the collection, ��ӽ紫ý stood out to the Weilenmanns both for the quality of its School of Music, and for its commitment to keeping the entire library together.

“We are excited that the collection is going to be part of Mason’s music program, which is growing by leaps and bounds,” said Peter Weilenmann.

“Toward the end of my seven years commanding and conducting the United States Air Force Band, Washington D.C., I enjoyed the distinct privilege of personally meeting Richard Weilenmann at the Landon School, where we were to perform thanks to his invitation and assistance,” said Dr. Dennis Layendecker, Heritage Chair in Music and Director of Orchestral Studies for the Dewberry School of Music. “… Richard’s long and precious investment in his extraordinary orchestral library will prove a genuine game changer for our instrumental and opera programs at Mason. Bravo et grazie al cielo, Maestro Weilenmann!”

Fittingly, the love of music was responsible for how Richard Weilenmann and his wife, Elisabeth, a fellow music lover, first met. Originally from central Europe, Elisabeth had moved to the United States and come to the Washington, D.C. area to improve her translator skills. According to their son, the pair got to know each other when Richard needed some scores translated. “For their first date, he took her to the symphony. Their second date was the opera,” their son said.

Rob Riordan / February 15, 2021

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Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music

College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) School of Music

School of Music

Making music in the time of COVID

Colleen Rich — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 20:30:00 +0000

Making music in the time of COVID Colleen Rich Fri, 09/18/2020 - 16:30

When ��ӽ紫ý students returned for the fall semester in late August, things looked a little different, but the excitement of a new semester was the same. Students in John Aler’s opera class were happy to be back on campus, especially now that their classroom was in the Center for the Arts.

“We haven’t been able to perform,” said Aler, an opera singer and an associate professor in ��ӽ紫ý’s Sid and Reva Dewberry Family School of Music. “So the students were just excited to be live and in person.”

The 15 students in the class were spaced out around the Concert Hall. Aler and his colleague, Joseph Walsh, were on stage along with the accompanying pianist Eunae Ko Han. Everyone was masked except for the voice student who was singing at the time.

The faculty and staff of the Dewberry Family School of Music have spent the summer planning for this. Linda Apple Monson, the school’s director, said they have been working with the National Association of Schools of Music and researching best practices to make this return to campus safe for students and faculty.

These measures included analyzing the air flow in the ventilation systems of the de Laski Performing Arts Building, where several groups—including the Wind Symphony and the Percussion Ensemble—are making music in person as well as virtually. Information about the ventilation system was used to plan the spaces and movements of the musicians, who would be playing behind Plexiglas shields within their distanced areas.

Normally, the Wind Symphony has about 70 players, said John Kilkenny, associate director of concert bands and director of percussion studies at the school. The musical groups are smaller in size than they normally would be, with Wind Symphony having 63 participants registered this fall, 42 of them who are coming to campus. These musicians are being put into even smaller groups working on different pieces of music on different days of the week.

“Normally our students would play in more than one group, but we are trying to reduce contact between students and limit time on campus,” Kilkenny said.

He said they are trying to turn these limits into opportunities by performing repertoire written for smaller ensembles, pieces of music the larger symphony would not normally tackle.

Those conducting—Kilkenny and doctoral music student Samantha Clarke—are masked and elevated so musicians can see them despite the barriers. Clarke, a flutist who is working on a doctor of musical arts degree, was eager to work with the Wind Symphony.

“For conducting, you really need to be in front of the group to hone that skill,” said Clarke, who added that she hasn’t been on the podium since February. “I’m excited to jump back into it.”

Kilkenny also said that Mark Camphouse, the school’s director of concert bands, will be working with the musicians virtually and offering master classes. They also plan to bring in guest artists virtually for these master classes, which might cover performance tips or career advice.

The school is also offering virtual ensembles and groups.

“What we are doing is providing options,” said Monson, who is also a University Distinguished Service Professor, “so that for those students who are international students or local and just not comfortable coming on campus, they are able to proceed with their degree with everything done virtually. And they will have a first-class education.”

She added: “I'd like to think that what we have is the best of all worlds in this situation that we've been given with the restrictions we have due to COVID and with all the social distancing in place.”

School of Music to be renamed after Reva and Sid Dewberry Family

Mariam Aburdeineh — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 05:00:00 +0000

School of Music to be renamed after Reva and Sid Dewberry Family Mariam Aburdeineh Tue, 03/03/2020 - 00:00

��ӽ紫ý’s School of Music will be renamed the Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music, in honor of the Dewberrys’ lifetime legacy of giving and generous support of the school. The decision was approved unanimously at the Feb. 27 Board of Visitors meeting.

“The name Dewberry symbolizes excellence, extraordinary commitment, innovation and long-standing relationships. Our School of Music embraces those same qualities, especially with our goal of excellence in all areas and having a very tangible path to get there,” said Linda Monson, the School of Music director who has been a faculty member at Mason since 1999. “To have our school be named after a benefactor who embodies all of these same qualities is such an honor.”

Sid Dewberry and Linda Monson playing the piano.

In addition to recent and pledged support of $1.8 million that will create a scholarship endowment, prior contributions from the Dewberrys include nearly $1.4 million for the creation of the Linda Apple Monson Scholars Endowed Fund. The family also helped lead the Steinway Initiative, which allowed the school to achieve even higher status as an All-Steinway School in 2007.

“I want the School of Music to be the best school in the United States and the world, not only for [future] teachers but also for performers,” said Sid Dewberry, who began learning piano from Monson at age 75 to fulfill a life goal.

“My dream is to put Mason on the top of the heap,” the now 92-year-old said. “I think we’re well on our way to doing that.”

“[The Dewberrys] have been transformational,” said Rick Davis, dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA). “Because Sid stepped up, we are able to offer even more scholarship support, which allows us to compete for students who would like to come [to Mason] but are also getting major scholarship offers from other great schools.”

The Dewberrys’ gifts will make the School of Music the first donor-named school within the CVPA.

“[Mason is] still practically brand-new on the planet, and we’ve done so much so quickly,” Davis said. “Moments like this are signs of arrival for a college.”

Mason’s institutional maturity is also becoming more widely recognized, Monson and Davis said, adding that students from across the country and around the world are choosing to study here.

“[Mason’s School of Music] trains artists, and artists help make the world a better place,” Monson said. “Mr. Dewberry has experienced this—he has witnessed it himself. He’s seen what our artists here in the School of Music are doing, and he wants to help propel our school to the highest level possible.”

The Dewberry family has a long-standing commitment to Mason. Dewberry Hall within the Johnson Center, as well as the Sid and Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering within the Volgenau School of Engineering, have also been named in their honor.

Mason’s younger status among universities makes financial support of the college even more impactful, as it creates unprecedented scholarship opportunities for many talented students, Monson and Davis said.

“We are incredibly grateful to the Dewberrys and to our Friends of Music, who support us in all ways in helping us to raise scholarship support,” Monson said. “We want to continue building our music scholarships and endowments and we have many ways in which one can help to be a part of this wonderful legacy to our School of Music.”

The Dewberrys and the renaming will be celebrated at the Sept. 13 Grand Piano Celebration at 3 p.m. The online concert will be open to the public.

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Linda Monson named director of Mason’s School of Music

Melanie Balog — Tue, 02 Aug 2016 19:08:36 +0000

Linda Monson named director of Mason’s School of Music Melanie Balog Tue, 08/02/2016 - 15:08

A dynamic faculty member known for giving the gift of music to students and audiences around the globe has been named the new director of the School of Music at ��ӽ紫ý.

Linda Apple Monson, Distinguished Service Professor, joined the ��ӽ紫ý faculty in 1999 and served as the managing director of the School of Music and the director of keyboard studies before taking on her current role.

"Linda Monson is a consummate musician, a great teacher, a tireless worker, and an inspirational motivator. What more could one ask for to lead our School of Music?" said Rick Davis, dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

“Our music majors get to experience the depth and breadth of music making and music learning,” Monson said. “In my mind, music is one of the greatest gifts you can give someone.”

A recipient of the “Influential Women of Virginia” award in 2014, Monson was named Mason’s Faculty Member of the Year in 2012 and earned Mason’s Teaching Excellence Award in 2009.

“It’s a privilege to serve as director and I will give it my utmost,” she said. “The best is yet to come in our School of Music because of the great faculty and staff, students and team of supporters we have.”

Monson is preceded by Col. Dennis Layendecker, who now serves as director of orchestral studies.

Her goals in her new role include raising the level of excellence for music performance, increasing music education and increasing the visibility of the school both nationally and internationally.

Increasing the general education offerings of the School of Music will provide more opportunities for non-music majors to study music, Monson said. She feels expanding opportunities for more music ensembles to include non-majors is another way to share music and go beyond the offerings of a lecture-style course on music.

“That ultimately is what’s really compelling to students—making music yourself and with others,” she said.

Having chamber ensembles perform in public campus spaces, such as the Johnson Center, and hosting innovative master classes are other ways to increase the school’s visibility on campus, Monson said, adding that she has a “fierce determination to make good things happen for our school.” That’s evidenced by a project she took on early in her Mason career, working with former Mason Board of Visitors rector Sidney Dewberry to make Mason an All-Steinway School in 2007.

“You must figure it out, collaborate with your team and then work hard together to make great things happen,” she said.

“The director can provide leadership and inspiration, but it’s the entire team that helps make wonderful things happen,” she added. “It’s a shared vision for our School of Music. I want to turn our collective dreams into reality.”