Rob Riordan

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 George Mason University, 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.”

Topics

Dewberry School of Music

At Arts Emerging, the Arts Return In-Person to George Mason

Pam Muirheid — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 15:31:57 +0000

At Arts Emerging, the Arts Return In-Person to George Mason Pam Muirheid Thu, 09/30/2021 - 11:31

In This Story

Shaun Boyle D'Arcy

Gregory Washington

Dr. Michael Nickens

Arts Emerging raised more than $155,000 to support the arts at Mason.

School of Dance students performing Pause: Reset on Holton Plaza. Photo ©Sean Hickey.

A welcome return to live, in-person arts performances and exhibitions was celebrated September 25 at the George Mason University Center for the Arts.

Arts Emerging: A Celebration of Renewal brought more than 300 people to the Fairfax Campus on a Saturday evening for a festive event that pulsed with artistic energy and the spirit of community.

Combining outdoor and indoor performances by students, faculty, and alumni, art exhibits, film screenings, hands-on activities, and more, Arts Emerging launched the 2021-22 Center for the Arts season, while also marking the 20^th anniversary of the university’s College of Visual and Performing Arts.

“The arts have become one of Mason’s signature tools for the university to engage with its community,” said Rick Davis, dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts. “Arts Emerging is a powerful example of that in action.”

A highlight of the outdoor performances presented on Holton Plaza was a performance of Pause: Reset, delivered by School of Dance students and choreographed by faculty member Shaun Boyle D’Arcy. One performer, senior dance major Hadiya Matthews, reflected afterward on the challenges of the past year and how students have rallied. “During Covid and everything that was happening in the world, it was pretty heavy and kind of sad,” Matthews said. “I think that when we had discussions and ‘collabbed’ and really talked about how we felt, a big thing that kept us strong was community, and how—no matter what we’re going through—we’re all related to one another. That’s something that we can come back to, so building this piece of community was really special.”

Meanwhile, in the adjacent Buchanan Hall Atrium Gallery, viewers enjoyed a major exhibition, Women of the Same Blood, combining photography and family history by Zia Palmer, BFA Photography ’19, with the opportunity to meet and talk with the artist. Buchanan Hall also hosted screenings by Film and Video Studies alumni, and an interactive virtual reality experience by the Computer Game Design program.

Later, inside the Center for the Arts, Mason President Gregory Washington welcomed a mix of students, supporters, and Mason faculty and staff. “The arts are the front door to the university,” Washington said. “Many of you found that great big front door and you came through it to become involved with our College of Visual and Performing Arts. And then that introduced you to the larger university.”

Guest appearances on the Concert Hall stage included a duet by Green Machine alumni Chelsea Mohindroo, BS Mathematics ’16, MS Operations Research ’20, and Brandon Showell, BA Music and English ’14, both of whom have been contestants on NBC’s The Voice. They were followed by School of Theater alumni Garvey Dobbins, BFA Theater ’20, and Lauren Fraites, BA Theater ’20, and a finale performance by current Dewberry School of Music opera students. Members of the Green Machine, led by associate professor of music and director of the Green Machine Ensembles Michael W. Nickens (Doc Nix), also played throughout the event.

Finally, School of Dance alumna Sasha (Hollinger) Henninger, BFA Dance ’09, who made her Broadway debut in Hamilton as #thebullet, spoke about her career and her time at Mason. “I was blessed to spend 11 years in New York making a living doing what I love. I toured the country, I toured the world, and I spent my last few years there performing in two incredible shows on Broadway—easily one of my biggest dreams come true,” Henninger said. “My time, my teachers, my peers here at George Mason prepared me for that. My time at George Mason prepared me well.”

Henninger presented a special merit scholarship to current Film and Video Studies senior Taj Kokayi, whose film Woken From a Dream won the Best Student Film Award at the London Web Fest. Kokayi was a producer on the short film The Vine, which premiered during Saturday’s event. The Vine featured current Masters in Arts Management student Bobby Lacy, BA Music ’16, in a stirring spoken word performance inspired by the question of what it means to be an arts manager.

Sandy Spring Bank returned as the event’s presenting sponsor for the fourth consecutive year. “By sponsoring events like this we’re literally helping the students you saw tonight on stage realize their hopes and dreams, or give them an opportunity to,” said Jay O’Brien, executive vice president for commercial and retail banking at Sandy Spring. O’Brien has three daughters currently attending Mason—two graduate students and one undergraduate.

Arts Emerging raised more than $155,000, with proceeds supporting CVPA student scholarships, the Mason Community Arts Academy, Green Machine Ensembles, and the Great Performances at Mason season at the Center for the Arts. The event was co-chaired by Arts at Mason Board members Steven Golsch, a vice president at NowSecure, and Annie Bolger, a bank officer at Sandy Spring Bank.

Topics

arts emerging

College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA)

CFA

forward together

giving to Mason

College of Visual and Performing Arts School of Dance

College of Visual and Performing Arts School of Theater

Computer Game Design

Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music

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 George Mason University. 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 George Mason University,” 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, George Mason 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

Topics

Dewberry School of Music

Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music

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

School of Music