In the highly competitive world of symphonic conducting, few can claim the success or unique accomplishments of Dorrit Matson, now in her fourteenth season as music director of the Scandia Symphony. Acclaimed for her performances of Scandinavian music, she also commands a vast repertoire of European and American masterworks in a continually expanding list of performances in concert and theater. Among an elite handful of women conductors who have won over both the musical establishment as well as the public, Ms Matson, a native of Copenhagen, Denmark, has single-handedly inspired both critics and audiences alike with her devotion to often and rarely performed works by composers as well known as Grieg, Nielsen and Sibelius, to the more obscure creations of Schierbeck, Larsson, Alfven, Hartman, and Crusell.

In the face of enormous odds, and in a city where century old cultural institutions prevail, Ms Matson founded the New York Scandia Symphony in 1988. Since then the orchestra has played to thousands of delighted concertgoers, its performances broadcast on WQXR, National Public Radio, and other radio programs throughout the US. Scandia Symphony's mission is a valuable one: to bring to greater public attention, through creative programming, the music of classical, romantic, and contemporary Scandinavian composers. Ms. Matson also leads the orchestra in their three critically acclaimed recordings, on the Centaur label.

Reviews have been lavish in praise of Ms. Matson and the orchestra: "Dorrit Matson led a lush shimmering statement of Carl Nielsen's delightful Aladdin's Dream" opined John Rockwell of the New York Times. Fanfare's Robert McColley likewise noted that "Matson matches the soloists intensity and draws from the New York players both the muscularity and ingenuity of this extraordinary score:" The St Petersburg Times called Scandia "a gem of an ensemble that delivers one suave, spirited and technically irreproachable performance after another. Matson, who has a fine ear for instrumental and registrational balance, draws a sterling sound from her colleagues".

Dorrit 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 Conducting was completed at the University of Miami in Florida. She perfected her conducting technique at the University of Mainz (Germany), Aspen Music School, (Colorado), Academia Musicale Chigiana (Siena, Italy), Mozarteum (Salzburg, Austria), and the Ernest Read Music Association (London). Awards include a Fulbright, Denmark-America Fund, America Women's Club, Italian State Scholarship, American-Scandinavian Society, and various Danish scholarships. Ms. Matson has held conducting posts with the Royal Danish Academy of Music Orchestra; the Aspen Music Festival Orchestra; the University of Miami Orchestra; World Stage Concerts in New York, Women's Philharmonic of San Francisco; Monteverdi Opera Guild and others.

Ms. Matson's musical range also includes the standard as well as less performed works of German masters (Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler); French (Debussy, Milhaud); Slavic (Dvorak, Glinka, Shostakovich); English (Vaughn-Williams, Britten); Austrian (R.Strauss, J.Strauss); South American (Ginastera); Italian (Rossini); and American (Copland, Dello Joio, Ives). Operatic composers are a recent addition to her expanding list of performance in concert and theater with Henze (Der Landartzt), Bellini (Norma), Carmen), Donizetti (Lucia di Lammermoor), Rossini (Barber of Seville, Semiramide), Verdi (La Traviata, Nabucco), Weber (Der Freischutz) and several Mozart operas.

REVIEWS

"Dorrit Matson, the Danish born conductor, led a lush, shimmering statement of Carl Nielsen's delightful Aladdin's Dream"

John Rockwell, The New York Times
 

"Danish conductor Dorrit Matson matches the soloists intensity and draws from the new York area players both the muscularity and ingenuity of this extraordinary score."

Robert McColley, Fanfare
 

"Not one to leave any interpretive stone unturned, Matson, who has a fine ear for instrumental and registrational balance, draws a sterling sound from her colleagues."

John Bell Young, St Petersburg Times
 

"Amazingly good…the sound is gorgeous…The conductor is Danish and got most of her education in Copenhagen. These are three terrific musicians. This is a wonderful recording "

Donald Vroon, American Record Guide
 

"The New York Scandia Symphony under Dorrit Matson offered a beautifully played program."

Bill Zakhariasen, New York Daily News
 

"Maestro Matson has been working her musical charms on New Yorkers for a while…Matson expertly balanced the orchestra and the clarinet, delicately shifting their positions from dominant to subservient."

Paul Shelden, The Clarinet
 

"Music director Dorrit Matson was born and trained in Copenhagen and clearly has both a passion and a strong affinity for the music of her native region."

Edith Eisler, New York Concert Review

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