We are humbled to invite all of you to join us for a special remembrance of Draylen Mason, our longtime Austin Soundwaves student killed in the March 2018 package bombings. This performance will take place virtually on March 12th at 5:30pm, simultaneously broadcast on all of our media channels, including Facebook. We are grateful to our wonderful partners at KMFA 89.5 for providing the Draylen Mason Music Studio to record this performance.

In honor of Draylen, the City of Austin and Mayor Steve Adler declared March 3rd as Draylen Mason Day beginning in 2019. In part, the proclamation reads: “Though Draylen was killed on March 12th, 2018, taken from his family and his community, his memory lives on in various forms, from scholarships in his name to musical memories and moments cast in time.” Our great friends and partners at the Austin Youth Orchestra, where Draylen played bass in Philharmonic and Symphony, celebrated the first Draylen Mason Day with a performance of Copland’s Lincoln Portrait, narrated by UT BSOM professor Donnie Ray Albert and guest conducted by the late world-renowned conductor, Michael Morgan.

The community mourned together in the days and weeks after Draylen died, with the arts organizations he was deeply a part of creating the Draylen Mason Fellows Program (DMFP), a full-scholarship initiative for rising high school students using art as a means to address social justice issues important to their communities. Austin Soundwaves partnered with several organizations to start DMFP, including the Armstrong Community Music School, Austin Chamber Music Center, Austin Youth Orchestra, Golden Hornet, KMFA 89.5, and Mother Falcon. The fellowship year culminates in an original capstone performance created and curated by the students, following their hearts and always asking the question, “What would Dray do?”

For more information about DMFP or how you can support it, please visit austinsoundwaves.org/draylen.

Draylen Mason Remembrance Concert March 12th