About
Over 37 years delighting audiences with imaginative and creative programs.
Dorrit Matson, Music Director
The New York Scandia Symphony was established in 1988 by Dorrit Matson, who continues to serve as its music director and conductor. Ms. Matson received her performance degree in conducting at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and a Master's Degree in Musicology from the University of Copenhagen. Her Master's Degree in Instrumental Conducting was completed at the University of Miami in Florida, facilitated by a Fulbright scholarship. Among an elite handful of women conductors who have earned profound international recognition for her performances, she has inspired musicians, critics and audiences with her interpretations and devotion to seldom performed compositions. Her Scandinavian background and European training combined with her keen interest in educating and sharing musical treasures with the public makes her very qualified to curate and implement special programming.
Scandia Symphony
The New York Scandia Symphony (Scandia) is dedicated to artistic excellence through performing arts and is acknowledged for its contributions and services to New York City communities. For the past 37 years Scandia has delighted and educated audiences with imaginative and creative programs of Classical, Romantic and Contemporary Scandinavian music, creating awareness of unknown and seldom heard music among the public of the metropolitan area. With much of its repertoire presented at US premieres, Scandia revives and preserves the works of significant classical composers which might not otherwise have been brought to the attention and availability of the public. While New York City is visited every year by the world’s most famous orchestras, all presenting traditional symphonic repertoire, the Scandia Symphony makes a unique and valuable contribution by sharing the culture and musical treasures of Northern Europe as an integrated part of the international musical scene in New York City.
Concert Series
Scandia currently presents several concert series in different geographic areas of Manhattan:
In midtown our symphonic concerts titled “UNDER NORTHERN LIGHTS” are performed in Alice Tully Hall. Since this concert series was relocated in 2023 we have successfully cultivated new audiences and engaged the international and culturally vibrant community surrounding Lincoln Center. The expanded seating capacity (1100) and the visibility has enabled us to create an opportunity for a broader population to be part of our cultural experience in the center of New York City. Each concert features approximately 50 of New York City’s finest musicians.
In Northern Manhattan our popular summer concert series “SCANDINAVIAN MUSIC FESTIVAL” in Fort Tryon Park has been performed every season since its inception in 2005. A series of three unique programs feature music from all five Scandinavian countries and are performed by The Scandia String Quartet, Scandia Brass Quintet and Scandia Chamber Orchestra. As a part of the arts and cultural programs available to the population of Northern Manhattan, the summer parks concert series now anchors two outreach programs in Washington Heights. A “CHILDREN’S MUSIC EDUCATION PROGRAM” has been offered in Bennett Park since 2014. A “SENIOR PROGRAM” at the Riverstone Senior Center and the YM & YMHA was initiated in 2023 and is enhancing engagement of the elderly population in the community.
Scandia Ensembles
The Scandia String Quartet
The Scandia String Quintet was founded in 2005 and is the initiative of the four principal string players of the New York Scandia Symphony (founded in 1988). Since its inception, the quartet has been the solid foundation of the Scandinavian Music Festival, held in Fort Tryon Park (Northern Manhattan) during the month of June. As the Scandia Symphony, the Scandia String Quartet is dedicated to performing and recording music of the Scandinavian countries and composers, introducing previously unknown and seldom performed compositions to American audiences. The quartet has undertaken several premieres of works by living composers from Scandinavia and of music relating to Scandinavia. The Scandia String Quartet features violinists Mayuki Fukuhara and Elizabeth Miller, violist Frank Foerster and cellist Benjamin Larsen. The quartet is often engaged to perform at events and has collaborated with soloists and composers of Scandinavian descent, as well as with other members of the New York Scandia Symphony. Concert appearances include Victor Borge Hall at Scandinavia House, The Scandinavian Music Festival in Fort Tryon Park, Rutgers University, the YM&WHA in Washington Heights and Music at Our Saviour’s Atonement Church – MOSA
The Scandia Brass Quintet
Musicians
The Scandia Symphony engages forty-six musicians, all under contract with the musician’s union, Local 802 of AFM. They are selected among the finest in New York City and have faithfully contributed to the consistence and sound development of artistic personnel. The musicians deserve much credit for the critically acclaimed artistic excellence of Scandia’s performances.
Michael Powell
Trombonist Michael Powell is a member of the celebrated American Brass Quintet since 1983. In New York City he performs and records regularly with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the NY Scandia Symphony, and the Little Orchestra Society. Mr. Powell has performed as concerto soloist with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Kansas City Philharmonic, the Aspen Music Festival, and the New Hampshire Music Festival. He also records for radio, television, and cinema, and appears on over seventy recordings as trombonist. Mr. Powell has commissioned, premiered, and recorded trombone works by Eric Ewazen, Robert Martin, Steven Sacco, and David Sampson. He is on the trombone and chamber music faculties of The Juilliard School, SUNY at Stony Brook, and the Aspen Music School.
Rebecca Harris
Rebecca Harris-Lee, violinist, grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, where she received much of her musical training from Linda Sharon Cerone at the Cleveland Institute of Music Preparatory Department. Rebecca’s parents, Alan Harris, cellist, and Josie Harmon Harris, pianist, were also great influences in her musical development, and are still so, today.
Ms. Harris-Lee studied at the Oberlin Conservatory with Stephen Clapp and Kathleen Winkler. She received a Professional Studies degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying with Donald Weilerstein. Other teachers and mentors include Richard Kapuscinski, Diane Monroe, and Burton Kaplan, and she has participated in the Aspen and Banff music festivals. Ms. Harris-Lee played Principal Second violin with the Ohio Chamber Orchestra for six years before moving to the NY area. Ms. Harris-Lee currently plays in the Madison String Quartet and is immersed in an active family life with her husband, jazz saxophonist Mike Lee, and their three children, the oldest of whom is a recent graduate of the Juilliard School of Music.
Karl Kawahara
Karl Kawahara enjoys a varied career as a violinist in New York City. He is a member of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s performing in Carnegie Hall and at the Caramoor Festival. As a member of the Long Island Baroque Ensemble and the American Classical Orchestra he performs music ranging from the early Baroque to the Classical period on original instruments.
Born in Seattle, Washington, Karl studied with Emanuel Zetlin and was a scholarship student of Raphael Bronstein at the Manhattan School of Music.
Peter Reit
Peter Reit is principal horn with the Westchester Philharmonic, Greenwich and Scandia Symphony Orchestras. He performed and toured with the Metropolitan Opera for five years, and has been a guest artist with the New York Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Ensemble, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, New York City Opera and Ballet Orchestras, and the American Ballet Theater. Peter is a very active chamber musician, performing with the Chamber Players of the Greenwich Symphony, with his wife Alyssa as a horn & harp duo, and with the Purchase Faculty Brass. He is featured on CDs of all musical genres, and has been heard on television, radio, and movie soundtracks. Peter is currently in his thirtieth year with the Broadway hit The Phantom of the Opera and is on the faculty at SUNY Purchase and Vassar Colleges.
Mioi Takeda
Japanese violinist Mioi Takeda earned her reputation as a chamber musician, orchestral player, and as a new-music specialist. She is a member of the Scandia Symphony and has also performed with the American Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of Saint Lukes, Stamford Symphony, Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic,The Japan Philharmonic, The New Japan Philharmonic, and North South Consonance.
Mioi also enjoys performing and collaborating with living composers. Her violin duo Miolina, a member of New Music USA’s Impact Cohort, is honored to receive an American Scandinavian Public Project Grant. They will be presenting a concert at the Scandinavian House In New York City April 2020, featuring five contemporary Scandinavian composers.
A scholarship student of Dorothy DeLay and Masao Kawasaki at the Juilliard School, she holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from The City University of New York where she was under the guidance of Itzhak Perlman.
Mioi is on a faculty of York College of the City University of New York.
She lives in Forest Hills with her husband Roy.
Gabriel Schaff
A native of Philadelphia, violinist Gabriel Schaff studied with the Curtis String Quartet at Philadelphia’s New School of Music before moving to New York City at the age of 17 as a scholarship student of Erick Friedman at the Manhattan School of Music, later serving as his teaching assistant.
Mr. Schaff is a member of New York Scandia Symphony and has been affiliated with, and a tenured member in several professional orchestras in the greater New York area, as well as being an active chamber musician and a recognized teacher and lecturer on the secondary and college levels.
In 1992 he created the Englewood Chamber Players, a community-based group of professional musicians dedicated to performing interactive and historical concerts in the communities in which they live, as well as for populations underserved by live classical performances. His diverse lecture-concerts encompass a wide range of repertoire. Current programs include a retrospective of women composers in celebration of the centennial of the 19th amendment, a reassessment of the sonatas for violin and piano by Mozart, and a series of library lectures on the music of Beethoven, in anticipation of his 250th birthday.
Schaff is an internationally recognized author of books and articles pertaining to the history of the violin family and the music written for it, most notably “The Essential Guide to Bows of the Violin Family” and “Rediscovering Haydn’s Three Original Violin Sonatas”. He is on the faculty of Essex County College as a lecturer in the Humanities division, evolving a course entitled “Music in Society”.
Sandra Billingslea
Violinist Sandra Billingslea, received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Michigan State University. Miss Billingslea is a long standing member of the Scandia Symphony, Queens Symphony, the Long Island Philharmonic, the New York Virtuosi Ensemble, the Bronx Arts Ensemble, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Dance Theatre of Harlem & the Boys Choir of Harlem Orchestras and the New York Ragtime Orchestra. She has played in several Broadway shows including The Producers, The Man from Oz, Miss Saigon, the original Dreamgirls, Follies, The Life & Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Guys & Dolls, The King & I & Timbuktu.
Ms. Billingslea has performed on recordings, television commercials, & movie scores including Malcolm X, Do the Right Thing, School Daze, Age of Innocence, Carlito’s Way & Indian in the Cupboard. She’s played with popular music and jazz artist including Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Lena Horne, Barry White, Brittany Spears, Luther Vandross, Abbey Lincoln, Ray Charles, Donna Summers, Dionne Warwick, Jay Black, Phyllis Hyman, Sammy Davis Jr., Billy Ocean and many more. Ms. Billingslea has been a pioneer in Special Education through her work with special needs children in the “Music Outreach” Program and the West End Little Symphony. She was also a “Teaching Artist” & “Artist in Residence” for the New York State Council for the Arts and Lincoln Center Arts in Education, the Westchester Philharmonic, a violin instructor at the Waldorf School of Garden City, the Ridgewood Conservatory of Music, Rutgers University and York College CUNY.
She is a professional storyteller, having told stories with The Queens, Scandia & West End Symphonies & The Housing Authority Orchestra. Recently, she joined the Color of Music Festival Ensemble, an international orchestra/chamber ensemble of Black Classical Musicians. Life is ever changing and good.
Mayuki Fukuhara
Mayuki Fukuhara began his music studies at the age of seven. At the age of 12 he had already won the International Music Festival Grand Prix in Japan. Mr. Fukuhara came to the United States at age 19 to study with violinists Ivan Galamian and Jaime Laredo at the Curtis Institute. He continued his studies in New York at The Mannes School of Music, where he was a student of Felix Galimir.
Mr. Fukuhara is currently the concertmaster of New York Scandia Symphony and Saint Luke’s Chamber Orchestra. He has performed extensively at the Marlboro and the Caramoor Festivals in New York. During the summer Mr. Fukuhara performs with the Saito Kinen Festival in Japan under the direction of Sergii Ozawa and also finds time for teaching at Bennington’s Chamber Music Conference in Vermont.
His recording of J.S. Bach’s Violin Concertos with Saint Luke’s Chamber Orchestra has been released on the Music Master label. Mr. Fukuhara appeared as soloist with the Scandia Symphony on several occasions, including a US Premiere of the Violin Concerto “Trypticon” by Danish composer Jan Maegaard in Trinity Church, in the ‘Violin Concerto’ by Swedish composer Johan Helmich Roman and in “Suite for Violin and Strings” by Jean Sibelius at the Scandinavian Music Festival.
Elina Lang
Ms. Snellman-Lang is a founding member and cellist at “Music from St. Catharine’s”. Elina is an active orchestral player, chamber musician and educator. She is a member of The Scandia Symphony, Capital Philharmonic of New Jersey and Principal cello of Sinfonietta Nova.
Elina has appeared in some of the worlds leading concert halls with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.
She is a chamber music instructor and cello coach at the Peddie School and the New Jersey Symphony Academy Orchestra. Elina has participated in the Bard Summerscape, Inter-Harmony, OK Mozart, Spoleto and Lohja Music Festivals. She has also performed with the Philly Pops, productions on Broadway, recordings for NFL Films, and on American and Israeli TV with various Pop Artists.
Elina received her Master of Music Degree from the Mannes College of Music following her studies in Finland and at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music /Tel Aviv University. At home Elina enjoys cooking, gardening, skiing, yoga, meditation and lives in New Jersey with her husband Jeffrey Lang and two son’s Johannes and Markus.
Steve Hartman
Clarinetist Steven D. Hartman is Principal Clarinet of the New York City Ballet Orchestra, the Opera Orchestra of New York, Acting Principal Clarinet of the New York City Opera and Principal Clarinet of the New York Scandia Symphony, with which he has recorded three solo works by B. H. Crusell. He is a former member of the Boehm Quintette and the Music Project Repertory Chamber Ensemble and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra. He has been a regular participant in the Washington Square Music Festival. He recently performed Leonard Bernstein’s Prelude, Fugue and Riffs for Justin Peck’s new ballet, Easy, at the New York City Ballet. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, he is a graduate of New York’s Juilliard School and studied privately with Kalmen Opperman.
Sophie Arbuckle
Sophie Arbuckle is a faculty member of the Juilliard School pre-college and has served as a visiting professor of viola at the University of Minho in Portugal until 2017. She has served on the jury panel of the Johannes Brahms Competition in Portschach, Austria since fall 2016.
Described as “possessing flamboyantly responsive, flexible and supple viola playing” (Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Germany), she has performed extensively throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe.
Chamber music appearances include Music@Menlo (Calif.), Bargemusic (New York, NY), Festival des Arcs (France), and the Royal Flemish Philarmonie Chamber Music Series (Antwerp, Belgium) among others. Solo appearances include Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with the Belgorade Orchestra (France) and frequent appearances with the Sudbury Symphony (Canada). Recordings with “Le Chant de Linos”. An avid performer of contemporary music, Ms. Arbuckle has toured extensively premiering multimedia works including performances with dancer & choreographer Ann Carlson at Jacob’s Pillow and American Dance Festival at Duke University.
Ms. Arbuckle is a co-founder and artistic director of JVNY, inc., an ensemble of young professional musicians at the onset of their careers. The ensemble tours extensively on both sides of the Atlantic in prestigious venues and engages in regular outreach and community work.
Ms. Arbuckle holds an M.M. degree from the Juilliard School. She plays a Ferdinand Gagliano viola.
William de Vos
William de Vos, French Horn William de Vos is a musician of significant record of professional performance at the highest level. Hailing from Australia, William attended the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in Brisbane. During this time he was regularly engaged in performances with the Queensland Symphony, Queensland Philharmonic, and Queensland Pops orchestras. Following his graduation in 2000, William was offered a full scholarship to continue post-graduate studies at the Conservatory of music SUNY Purchase College and traveled to the United States to pursue this goal and advance his career opportunities. William currently fulfills a very active and comprehensive professional career of performance commitments in the New York metropolitan region. Along with being a member of the Scandia Symphony Orchestra his performance credits are extensive, regular engagements with such establishments as the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet, American Symphony, New York Pops Orchestra, Greenwich Symphony, Stamford Symphony Orchestra and Vermont Symphony to name just a few. Additional credits include performing with numerous Broadway shows, various recording projects, theater productions, chamber music performance, and solo engagements.
Benjamin Larsen
Cellist Benjamin Larsen, is known for the energy he brings to the stage and has forged a reputation as an avid chamber musician in the New York City area with the New York Scandia Symphony and many other orchestras. His aptitude for adventurous programming comes through in his work as Artistic Director of the series, Concerts on the Slope, and in the projects that he spearheads, working with some of today’s most notable composers. He is a graduate of Manhattan School of Music, where he was the recipient of the Hans and Klara Bauer Scholarship, as well as the Pablo Casals Award in 2011. He spent a year playing with the band, The Left Banke, and attended summer festivals including Pacific Music Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Music@Menlo, and Castleman’s Quartet Program. Along with his wife, pianist Hyungjin Choi, he actively performs in the Larsen-Choi Duo, which champions new music, original compositions and sonata literature. He plays on a 19th century anonymous cello.
Frank Foerster
Frank Foerster, principal violist of New York Scandia Symphony, enjoys a varied career as orchestral and chamber musician, soloist and composer. He studied at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin and with Yehudi Menuhin in Switzerland. He received his masters and doctoral degrees from the Juilliard School in New York. Since 1988, he has been principal violist of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra where he has performed Bartok’s viola concerto with this orchestra under Zdenek Macal. After winning the Aspen Concerto Competition, he performed Hindemith’s viola concerto with the Aspen Festival Orchestra. As a chamber musician, he performs regularly with several New York based groups. Foerster’s talent as a composer became apparent in a recital at Manhattan’s Donnell Auditorium, when he performed three of his own compositions for viola and piano: Tourmaline, Moonstone and Aquamarine. The Scandia String Quartet and Scandia String Orchestra have performed a number of Foerster’s compositions, including his Suite of Old Icelandic Folk Tunes, Summer in Fort Tryon Park, Suite of Scandinavian Folk Melodies, Three Finnish Dances, the Eagles of Inwood Hill and latest the Concertino Festivo. Mr. Foerster is on the faculty of New Jersey City University, teaching viola, violin and chamber music. An avid educator, he has created numerous musical fairy tale programs for students and children on the autism spectrum, bringing understanding and appreciation of classical music to the new audiences of tomorrow. In 2014 he received an ASCAP Composers’ Award for his creative work.
Elizabeth Miller
Elizabeth Miller is Principal Second violinist of the New York Scandia Symphony and Second Violinist of the Scandia Quartet. She received her Bachelors and Masters of Music at Indiana University and studied with the late Professor Josef Gingold. She frequently plays with the Orchestra of Saint Luke’s and taught at Rutgers University from 1997 to 2009. Dennis Rooney of the Strad Magazine hailed her as a Super fiddler! Elizabeth Miller is the Executive Director of The Hudson Heights String Academy, dedicated to teaching the young population of New York City the art of performing on string instruments.
Lisa Hansen
The New York Times described Ms. Hansen’s flute playing as “irresistibly lyrical” and praised her “considerable coloristic variety.” A graduate of The Juilliard School, she is winner of the New York Flute Club Competition and was featured in the Emmy award winning CBS TV documentary: “Juilliard & Beyond – A Life in Music.” Formerly principal flutist of the Mexico City Philharmonic, her recording of Rodrigo’s Concierto Pastoral for Flute with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (EMI) received critical acclaim. She also recorded Carl Niëlsen’s Flute Concerto with Dorrit Mattson and New York Scandia Symphony (Centaur), which was a “Best of the Year” selection by Fanfare. They later performed this concerto at a sold-out concert at Symphony Space honoring the 150th anniversaries of Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius. She and Ms. Mattson have performed lesser-known Scandinavian masterpieces, including Johan Helmich Roman’s Flute Concerto. Ms. Hansen is solo flutist with the Grammy nominated North/South Consonance Ensemble and featured on several world-premiere concerto recordings. She also performs with All Seasons Chamber players and is Flute Professor at Kean University.
Staff
Dorrit Matson
Music Director/Conductor
Audrey Ross
Publicist
Henning Rubsam
Producer
Jimmy Russel
Graphic Designer
Kim Campi
Social Media Consultant
Wayne Roddy
Accountant
Candy Williams
Bookkeeper
Shao-Ting Sun
Videographer
Musicians (46)
Roster on Local 802 of AFM contract
Board of Directors
Diana Douglas
Secretary
Erik Kock
Accounting
Dorrit Matson
Music Director
Mogens Rafn Mogensen
Chair
Stella Sanchez
Treasurer