Category: Events

Live-Streamed Performathon

Potomac Arts Live accompanist, performer and M.C's.

Potomac Arts LIVE! is back for its second year! This exciting live-streamed performance opportunity for our students is also an important fundraiser for the Academy. Funds that are raised go toward supporting our many outreach activities, such as our in-school-service programs and Instruments in the Attic, and student scholarships.

Potomac Arts Live! logo

Potomac Arts LIVE! Performathon 2016 will be on Sunday, May 15th.

A selection of the academy’s Music and Acting students are raising sponsorships (usually from family and friends) to be eligible to perform. On the day of the live performance, anyone from around the world can watch via a provided URL link on the internet. This gives relatives who live a long distance away the chance to watch the student perform live – last year we even had viewers from as far away as South America and France! The link will also be posted on our website.

“This event is truly one of a kind! Not only does it seamlessly blend technology and art, but it’s exciting for the students to know that their performance can be viewed live online,” says Potomac Arts Academy staff member Alaina Talley. “We live in a world where social media is so relevant, and I feel this event gives our students the chance to be seen by friends and family around the world in a fun, accessible way.”

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What is also amazing about Potomac Arts LIVE! is that it is so focused on giving back. Encouraging students of all ages to raise funds in the community for the community is an important lesson in social action and responsibility. Teaching young performers that they have the ability to make a difference is invaluable. It’s really a celebration of how arts can make a very real positive impact and how the students can be a part of that.

“Last year, parents and students were amazed that simply by performing in front of a camera, their performance could be viewed by hundreds of people– it’s really exciting!” shares Ms. Talley. “The experience of being interviewed by our emcees gives students the chance to feel like celebrities.”

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Even if you are not a student “sponsor”, you have the opportunity to contribute to the event via a donation portal that will be advertised during the event and on our website. We hope you will join us from wherever you are – on whatever device you choose (with an internet connection, that is) – to watch this wonderful performance event.

SEE PERFORMATHON PAGE

Events Music

Journey to the Islands This Saturday

This Saturday, March 5 at 8pm in Mason’s Center for the Arts: Sway to the island rhythms as the Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra transports you to paradise on the Caribbean shores. Imagine a warm island breeze beneath the palm trees with sounds of steel pans floating by. It’s a perfect winter getaway!

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This illustrious jazz orchestra is joined by featured steel pan virtuoso Victor Provost, a member of the Grammy Award-winning Afro Bop Alliance, and his ensemble for a program of Caribbean music. Washington City Paper’s “Jazz Percussionist of the Year” for the past five years, Provost has performed alongside Cuban jazz legend Paquito D’Rivera and his Panamericana Orchestra and was named the Art Ambassador to his home of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Don’t miss this incredible night of music filled with rhythmic island soul!

LEARN MORE AND GET TICKETS

Events Music

Disney Fantasia at Center for the Arts

This Saturday, February 27 at 8pm: Dancing hippos, ostriches, and alligators; frolicking mythical centaurs and unicorns; and one famous mouse dabbling in magic come to life with live music in this performance for all ages.

Experience these animated Fantasia films as you’ve never experienced them before: accompanied by a full, live orchestra. Conceived as a concert work, Walt Disney’s original legendary film Fantasia (1940) was considered a masterpiece when it was released and introduced generations to some of the most magnificent works of classical music as well as the most creative animation of the time. Now you can enjoy favorite scenes from this groundbreaking film and its popular sequel, Disney Fantasia 2000, with live music played by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra.

Stunning imagery from Disney’s unmatched animation studios appears on screen above the orchestra as Broadway and orchestra conductor, Ted Sperling leads it in famous works such as Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite, Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, Resphigi’s Pines of Rome, and Dukas’s unforgettable The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

This event is part of the Great Performances at Mason concert series at Mason’s Center for the Arts in Fairfax.

GET TICKETS NOW

Announcements Events Music

Orchestra of the Americas Masterclass: Saturday, February 27

Musicians from the Orchestra of the Americas will be visiting George Mason University on Saturday, February 27 to give a performance, teach a masterclass, and lead a discussion on the unique mission of their ensemble that combines performance and outreach for a global audience.

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YOA members Marlene Sanchez (National Symphony Orchestra of the Dominican Republic), Luciana Arraes (Doctoral Candidate, Hartt School of Music), Gabriel Polycarpo (Porto Alegre Symphony Orchestra), and Jessy Dube (Hochshule fur Musik Basel graduate) will lead a masterclass with performers including undergraduate students at the George Mason University School of Music as well as Mason’s Potomac Arts Academy.

The students from Mason’s Potomac Arts Academy are ten-year-old violinist Mikaela Garza, who is a student of Rachel McAleer and a fifth grader at Sangster Elementary and eighteen-year-old violinist Marina Huang, who is a student of Claire Allen and a senior at Oakton High School. Mikaela has performed in several Potomac Arts Academy recitals and was a featured performer in the 2015 Spotlight on the Arts Student Showcase. She will be playing Gavotte by Martini. Marina was accepted to the first violin section of the District XII Honor Orchestra this past year and also performed in the 2015 Spotlight on the Arts Student Showcase. She will be performing the first movement of the Violin Concerto by Kabalevsky. Both students will be accompanied by David Norfrey, one of the piano Teaching Artist faculty at Mason’s Potomac Arts Academy.

This unique event is sure to be of interest to music lovers, string and percussion students, and those with an interest in global arts outreach alike. It is free and open to the public!

WHEN: Saturday, February 27, 2016 4pm-6pm
WHERE: de Laski Performing Arts Building, Room 3001, on the Mason Fairfax Campus Campus Map (#14 on the map)
PARKING: You can park for free on Saturdays in Lot K, which is across the Mason Pond from the Performing Arts Building (about a 5-10 minute walk). You can also park in the Mason Pond Parking Deck next to the Performing Arts Building for an $8 fee.

Presented in collaboration with

Events Music

Faculty String Quartet Recital This Saturday

The Potomac Arts Academy Faculty String Quartet recital concert has been re-scheduled for this Saturday, January 30th at 7pm. The new location is Harris Theatre on the Mason Fairfax Campus. Enjoy FREE admission! (Donations will be accepted.)

The newly-formed Potomac Arts Academy Faculty String Quartet consists of violinists Matthew Richardson and Claire Allen, violist Patrick LeStrange, and cellist Kathryn Hufnagle. All Teaching Artists at Potomac, the members of the quartet maintain private teaching studios and coach chamber music, in addition to being active performers in the Washington DC Metropolitan Area. They hold degrees from schools including the Cleveland Institute of Music, Peabody Conservatory, the Universite de Montreal, and George Mason University, and currently perform with orchestras including the McLean Orchestra, the Fairfax Symphony, and the National Philharmonic.

On Saturday, you can park in Parking Lot K for free. From there, it is a 5-10 minute walk to Harris Theatre. You can also park in the Mason Pond Parking Deck for $8. The parking deck is located next to Harris Theatre.

SEE MAP OF MASON FAIRFAX CAMPUS
(Harris Theatre is #27 and is close to the George Mason statue.)