Experience the
New York Scandia Symphony

“With the George Washington Bridge, the Palisades cliffs and the Hudson River as the backdrop, while some hundred’s people lie back on the lawn and listen. The 2023 Fort Tryon Park Scandinavian Music Festival, held each year in Uptown Manhattan since 2006, reached its conclusion on June 10th with a sublime afternoon concert given by the Scandia String Orchestra.”

“When the audience left it was with a grasp that Scandinavia has fostered a wide range of beautiful music. The region’s culture is these best days of perhaps best known as Scandinavian “noir”. This sunny afternoon of dancing melodies was about as far from noir as it is possible to imagine. Picture the scene: Baroque music in the shade of a spreading tree.”

“Thursday evening was one of buried musical treasures at Manhattan’s Symphony Space as music director Dorrit Matson led the New York Scandia Symphony in a program featuring Hugo Alfven, Emil Hartman and Carl Nielsen… For many classical listeners this offers a welcome chance to hear music that is seldom, if ever, performed by a major American orchestra.”

This is the most enjoyable performance of the work known to me, either live or recorded. A disc combining brilliant and idiomatic readings of the violin and Flute Concertos of Carl Nielsen is hard to come by until now.”

“The recording immediately captivated me and held on firmly for its entire 34 minutes… vital, idiomatic, exciting, propulsive, gorgeous. Danish conductor, Dorrit Matson matches the soloists’ intensity and draws from the New York players both the muscularity and ingenuity of the extraordinary score.”

“There is a high degree of competence. The execution is first-rate, with fine precision, razor-sharp intonation and confident and inspired leadership.”

“The Sound is gorgeous – this is a wonderful recording. These are three terrific musicians and they are fortunate that the engineers did not betray them.”

“Once again the acumen of the performance was masterly.”

“Matson is an exciting and colorful Nielsen conductor and the dedicated New York Scandia Symphony players respond splendidly to her inspired direction. Aladdin is magnificent.”

“The New York Scandia Symphony’s marathon concert yesterday at Trinity Church was exhausting yet exhilarating for musicians and audiences alike, reaching a level of intensity envied by most players and rarely experienced by the average concert goer.”

“And they are not such a secret anymore: From the looks of it (a few empty seats in the balconies) their Thursday night concert at Symphony Space was sold out. The orchestra awarded the crowd with rousing, dynamic versions of material that for the most part is not typical for them.”

“Many years – maybe decades – before Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic were thrilling audiences with the sweep and majesty and blustery fun of Carl Nielsen’s symphony cycle, maestro Dorrit Matson was doing the same thing and more with the New York Scandia Symphony.”

“Who would have thought that one of the year’s most stunning moments in classical music would have taken place in the middle of the day at a landmark, downtown church?”

“One of the pleasures of living in New York is that the city’s rich cultural diversity can support a niche organization such as the New York Scandia Symphony……Fueled by Matson’s authoritative knowledge of this musical literature and her long-standing commitent to presenting it to American audiences, the Scandia Symphony’s thrice-yearly concert series are treasured events.”

“I was struck by how brilliantly Matson supported Nielsen’s expressive use of tone colors as she elicited the wide array of deep and intriguingly dissimilar emotions that varied instrumental timbres can evoke.”

“Here it is confirmed again, as Copenhagen native Dorrit Matson offers some insight into Carl Nielsen orchestral works ……There is an air of comprehension in their playing and a calmness in Matson’s readings. It is the sort of harmonious arrangement that comes from understanding the bigger picture… the core of Nielsen convincingly emerges.”

“So unfailingly lovely that those lucky enough to purchase the disc (of Lars-Erik Larsson’s orchestral works) will be surprised that the composer has eluded their attention for so long a time.”

“At the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Alice Tully Hall Ms. Matson also led Nielsen’s Symphony no. 5. Its ear-piercing melodies and rhythms were as dramatic as the colors that play out in the night skies. Here especially, Scandia Symphony’s silken sounding, soulful strings and woodwinds were well rooted in the orchestra’s richly muscular brass.”

“Thousands of miles from the “Northern Lights” that illuminate Scandinavian skies near the Arctic Circle at night, this natural spectacle was celebrated on a Manhattan stage with music from the Nordic nations.”

“The performance was led by the Scandia Symphony’s founder and music director Dorrit Matson, who crafted one of the most fun and unique programs of recent memory… The evening was another stunning success by the New York Scandia Symphony, whose concerts have become a highlight of each season.”

“The New York Scandia Symphony and its conductor and Music Director, Dorrit Matson serves as a de facto New York branch office of the Danish, Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian Music Information Centers and offers wonderfully and well performed programs of musical discovery and advocacy.”