Dr. Linda Apple Monson

         Dr. Linda Apple Monson

Dr. Linda Apple Monson is an International Steinway Artist and a recent honoree of the 2014 Influential Women of Virginia award. Named a Distinguished Service Professor at George Mason University, Monson serves as Managing Director of the School of Music in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. In addition, she serves as Director of Keyboard Studies at Mason. Monson is the honored recipient of the George Mason University 2012 Distinguished Faculty Member of the Year award and the George Mason University 2009 Teaching Excellence Award “for exemplary dedication to student learning and commitment to educational excellence.” She has been a professor in Mason’s School of Music since 1999. She also serves as Director of Music at Springfield United Methodist Church.

Monson has been selected for the Fulbright Senior Specialist Roster, in collaboration with the U.S. State Department and the Council for International Exchange of Scholars. She also served as an International Juror for the final round of the 2013 Washington Piano Invitational Competition held at the Kennedy Center. Monson was a featured lecture-recitalist for the 2013 International Conference of the College Music Society in Buenos Aires, Argentina. An active performer/scholar and an internationally recognized “master teacher,” she has given lecture-recitals, solo piano recitals, and piano master classes in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. In addition, Monson has recently served as President of the College Music Society Mid-Atlantic Region.

Currently serving as a Faculty Senator at George Mason University, Monson was elected by the faculty of Mason to serve on the Presidential Search Committee. Monson also serves as President of Mason’s chapter of Phi Beta Delta, a national honor society dedicated to recognizing scholarly achievement and excellence in international education. Serving on Mason’s Faculty Arts Board and Friends of Music at Mason Board, Monson is a presenter for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute of George Mason University and a pre-performance lecturer for Mason’s Great Performances at Mason series. In addition, Monson is a frequent performer at Mason as a solo and collaborative piano artist.

Monson was an invited concert artist and piano master class clinician at Nanjing Normal University (China) in 2010, in collaboration with Mason’s “China 1-2-1” Initiative. She also performed as collaborative pianist at the Society for Musicology in the Ireland 2011 Conference in Dublin. Monson was a featured lecture-recital artist for International Conferences of the College Music Society in Dubrovnik, Croatia (2009), Bangkok, Thailand (2007), Madrid, Spain (2005), and San Jose, Costa Rica (2003). Recent international performances also include a lecture-recital at the 2007 Oxford Round Table in England and a featured lecture-recital in 2006 in Hannover, Germany, for the Alban Berg International Festival. Monson also delivered a lecture-recital for the Hawaii 2006 International Conference on Arts and Humanities.

An active adjudicator in piano competitions and festivals, Monson served as a juror for the 2009 Washington International Piano Competition. She was invited as a panelist and concert commentator for the Virginia Chamber Orchestra satellite broadcasts, Music of the Romantic Era and Music by Modern Masters, which were sent to all community colleges in the United States. She also served as collaborative pianist for the International Clarinet Festival and Competition at the University of Maryland.

Monson has presented scholarly research and performed in featured lecture-recitals within the past few years at National Conferences of the College Music Society held in Minneapolis, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, and Miami. In addition, Monson has also presented solo piano recitals and piano master classes at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge (LSU Composer’s Forum), Davidson College (North Carolina) Artist Series, Mary Baldwin College (Virginia), West Virginia University, and University of Richmond. Monson also performed at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music (San Juan), University of California at Berkeley, Westminster Choir College (New Jersey), University of Miami (Florida), Bowling Green University, Gardner-Webb University (North Carolina), Meredith College (North Carolina), Gettysburg College, College of Southern Maryland (performing a world premiere), and University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She was piano concerto soloist with the George Mason University Symphony Orchestra, directed by Anthony Maiello, and she performed with Richard Stoltzman and the Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra, directed by Jim Carroll, in performances at Mason’s Center for the Arts. An advocate of new music, Monson has presented numerous solo piano world premieres by American composers, including solo piano world premieres at George Mason University by Mason faculty composers Mark Camphouse, Glenn Smith, and Jesse Guessford. She has also recently performed in Washington D.C. at the White House, the Czech Embassy, and the New Zealand Embassy.

A native of central Pennsylvania, Monson earned three degrees from the Peabody Conservatory of Music of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore: the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Piano Performance, the Master of Music Degree in Piano, and the Bachelor of Music Education Degree with a double-major in Piano and Bassoon. She also received a Diploma in Piano from Musica en Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain. In addition, she studied at the Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara, California. Monson previously served on the music faculties of the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore School for the Arts, and Northern Virginia Community College. She is married to Dr. Keith L. Monson, a forensic scientist. The Monsons are blessed with two children, Kristofer and Linnea.