This season’s Mason Artists-in-Residence will bring lively tap, inventive percussion, and a boundary-blurring world premiere to the Center for the Arts stage, along with interactive events for the community, both on- and off-campus.
Music From The Sole
On September 26, the live music and tap dance company Music From The Sole, will kick off the Great Performances at Mason series. The group, led by Brazilian choreographer Leonardo Sandoval and Brooklyn-based composer Gregory Richardson, incorporates a wide range of musical influence into their work, including samba, jazz, and passinho (Brazilian funk). The ensemble embraces community engagement—it has performed everywhere from venues like Lincoln Center to prisons, hospitals, schools, and sidewalks—sharing the infectious joy of tap to audiences from all walks of life. In addition to its Center for the Arts performance, Music From The Sole will be working with George Mason students from the School of Dance and participating in events at Hunters Woods Elementary School and the Metropolitan School of the Arts.
Third Coast Percussion
Chicago-based quartet Third Coast Percussion has been making music for more than 20 years, commissioning more than 100 new works by a multitude of composers, including Philip Glass, whose piece “Amazon River” the ensemble showed off during an NPR Tiny Desk concert back in 2018:
On February 6, the group will be performing Glass’s work at the Center for the Arts in honor of the legendary composer’s 90th birthday, along with compositions by other contemporary artists whose music has been influenced by Glass, including electronic producer Jlin, pop polymath Devonté Hynes, and minimalism master Steve Reich.
You can check out more of the group’s work on Spotify.
Silkroad Ensemble featuring Cécile McLorin Salvant
The Grammy Award-winning “roving musical laboratory” (Boston Globe) Silkroad Ensemble returns in the spring for a fifth season as Mason Artist-in-Residence—this time in collaboration with MacArthur Fellow and Grammy-winning jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, whose new album With Every Breath I Take was released last month; check out the album on Spotify.
In the collaborative world premiere performance on April 10, Silkroad, celebrating its 25th season of radical cultural collaboration, and Salvant, known for her genre-spanning tastes and influences, join forces for a singular musical exploration, not to be missed.
All our 2026–27 Mason Artists-in-Residence will be engaging with College of Visual and Performing Arts students and communities across George Mason, as well as off-campus partners. Keep an eye on the Center for the Arts website for more details.