News

Still tapping our toes, the Center for the Arts looks back on SW!NG OUT's time within the community, George Mason University, and the Center. As an Artist-in-Residence, SW!NG OUT company members engaged with local swing dance groups, area students, Hylton Performing Arts Center’s Veterans and the Arts Initiative, and community members to share the history of swing and Lindy Hop—and get dancing too! After a wonderful collection of community activities, SW!NG OUT concluded its time at George Mason University with its highly anticipated performance at the Center for the Arts on March 19.

The Center for the Arts at George Mason University announced its 2022/2023 season of mainstage performances, featuring a diverse lineup of artists and ensembles across many genres, as part of Great Performances at Mason and the Family Series. 

GRAMMY-winning composer and Mason Artist-in-Residence Maria Schneider worked with students, faculty, staff, and community members during her April 2022 residency at the Center for the Arts.

The American Festival Pops Orchestra’s May 14 performance will mark our beloved Maestro Anthony Maiello’s final performance with the orchestra, capping off 12 years of leadership. To celebrate this milestone, we asked the maestro about what he’s loved about this time, and what’s next for him.

Longtime Friend of the Center for the Arts (FCFA), Bob Warakomsky, shares his personal history of being a Friend and collected memories of Friends who attest to the incredible experience of supporting the arts through FCFA. We invite you to get to know some of our Friends.

Mozart’s beloved four-act comic opera, "The Marriage of Figaro," is the kind of mad and frantic bedroom farce from which guilty (and not-so-guilty) pleasures are made. Artistic Director of Virginia Opera (VAO), Adam Turner, states, “This story, these characters-they're all incredibly relevant and resonant. You’ll find a way to see a connection with these characters in some fashion because these are all still themes we still explore today.”

“An artist of strikingly original ideas and irrefutable integrity” (The Washington Post), pianist Simone Dinnerstein will join the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra (FSO) performance on April 23 at the Center for the Arts.

On Sunday, April 10, an Artists-In-Conversation (AIC) event will be held as a benefit for the Friends of the Center for the Arts (FCFA) at the Contributor level and above, preceding the Virginia Opera’s performance of The Marriage of Figaro.

Curious about what’s coming to the Center for the Arts next season? Want to ensure first pick of the best seats in the house? How about the chance to purchase tickets before the general public for special performances at the Center?

GRAMMY Award-winning composer, conductor, and Mason Artist-in-Residence Maria Schneider conducts Northern Virginia’s own Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra for a jazz performance including some of her own original music on Saturday, April 16 at 8 p.m. at the Center for the Arts at George Mason University.

Having grown up between Minnesota and Mexico, Lila Downs holds great pride in her expansive heritage of being the child of a Scottish-American father and Mixtec mother. In an interview with Reforma magazine, Downs recalls her mother, a singer as well, giving her advice when she was young, “Lila, canta con sentimiento o no cantes. Lila, sing with feeling or don’t sing at all.”