Mason Bands Concert: Hold Fast To Dreams (2027)
Hold Fast To Dreams is an evening of inspirational band music presented by the George Mason Dewberry School of Music at the Center for the Arts. The concert brings together the Mason Symphonic Band and the Mason Wind Symphony in a program inspired by Langston Hughes’s poem “Hold Fast to Dreams,” celebrating the power of vision, imagination, perseverance, and hope. Across the evening, the selected works explore identity, faith, resilience, and the courage to imagine a transformed world, treating dreams not as fleeting wishes but as lifelines for the human spirit.
The Mason Wind Symphony is joined by internationally acclaimed tenor, scholar, and educator Dr. Albert Lee, Associate Dean for Student Life and Community Engagement at the Yale School of Music, in Erik Santos’s The Seer. Dr. Lee is recognized for his “vocally sumptuous” artistry and for his deep commitment to the music and literature of Langston Hughes. The Seer is described as a musical mandala that draws on sources including Langston Hughes, Rainer Maria Rilke, Nina Simone, mythology, film, and popular music, bringing together dreams and reality, memory and imagination, and the conscious and subconscious.
When: Thursday, March 4, 2027, at 7:30 p.m.
Venue: George Mason University Center for the Arts, Concert Hall, Fairfax Campus.
Lineup: Mason Symphonic Band, Mason Wind Symphony, with guest tenor Dr. Albert Lee performing Erik Santos’s The Seer.
Tickets: $20 adults, $15 seniors, $10 youth; prices include fees. Individual tickets go on sale August 4, 2026, and choosing three or more performances saves 15% for the 2026–27 season.
Program: The detailed performance program will be available the week of the event.
Run time: Not listed.
Ages: No age restrictions are listed on the event page.
Accessibility: Accessibility information is available from the Center for the Arts, but event-specific accommodations are not detailed on the page.
Note: The concert takes its title from Langston Hughes’s poem “Hold Fast to Dreams,” which is quoted in the event materials.