The Dewberry School of Music is an All-Steinway School with Steinway grand pianos in each of our practice rooms and teaching studios. In total, students have access to a collection of 68 meticulously maintained Steinway pianos for practice and performance.
Our nationally accredited school has recently received accolades from the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) for our outstanding programs. Former George Mason President Ángel Cabrera shakes hands with major benefactor and long-time supporter, the late Sid Dewberry. In February 2020, the school was 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 combined experience of our world-class faculty in solo, chamber, symphonic, jazz, operatic, contemporary, and world music is extensive. Our faculty includes published composers and recognized scholars in musicology, theory, music education, pedagogy, and ethnomusicology. Dr. Linda Apple Monson is not just a renowned pianist in her own right but also the director of keyboard studies and director of the Dewberry School of Music. Read Dr. Monson's Letter of Welcome.
From day one, our students perform on our magnificent stages such as the Hylton Performing Arts Center on the Science and Technology campus.
Music students Sophie, Byran, Dylan and Sophie getting ready to welcome Michelle Obama during her visit to Mason, a close neighbor just to the south of the capital.
Our students learn from some of the world’s most successful artists in masterclasses, workshops, and artist conversations. Latin powerhouse, Ladama, recently shared their love of music making with a music class.
Leonard Wekesa, a choral conductor from Nairobi, Kenya, demonstrates a native instrument called a nyatiti, to George Mason music students on an East Africa study abroad trip.
Alumnus Vincent Oppido (MM Conducting 2010) is a rising talent in Hollywood. His music has been performed and recorded in Europe and Japan, and across the United States from Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood scoring stages of Warner Brothers and Sony Pictures Studios. He even composed Mason’s alma mater, Patriot Pride. Here, he is at AIR Studios Lyndhurst, UK, recording the new Ident for a future Warhammer media.