DONATE! Watch Salonline Previous Salonlines
Sunday, June 1, 2025
— a “hybrid” event —
Bluestone Strings
Benjamin Scott, violin
Regino Madrid, violin
Lauren Scott, viola
Chen Chen, cello
Harmonies Under Hapsburgs
Life was not all sunshine and roses during the vast Habsburg reign, but quite a few musicians found their homes absorbed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Haydn lived most of his life in Austria working for Hungarian nobility and eventually composing for a Prussian prince. Dvorak felt regular pressure to internalize the music of his Bohemian homeland and was all too aware of the Habsburg condescension of all things Czech. Haydn and Dvorak enjoyed thriving careers amidst strong political power, and we’ve selected works from their middle age and middle oeuvre for tonight’s concert.
Program
Franz Joseph Haydn 1732-1809
String Quartet in C Major, Op. 50 No. 2
Vivace
Adagio cantabile
Menuetto: Allegretto
Finale: vivace assai
Antonín Dvořák 1841-1904
String Quartet No. 10 in E♭ major, Op. 51
Allegro ma non troppo
Dumka: Andante con moto – Vivace
Romanza: Andante con moto
Finale: Allegro assai
BIOGRAPHY
The third NSO Youth Fellow to join the National Symphony Orchestra, violinist Benjamin Scott holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the New England Conservatory. Upon conclusion of his fellowship with the New World Symphony, he performed regularly with the Pittsburgh Symphony, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and The Philly POPS, among others. Benjamin acted as associate concertmaster of the National Philharmonic for four years and appeared as a guest soloist at their Summer String Institute. Highlights of his performance background include touring Europe and Asia with The Philadelphia Orchestra, performing Gustav Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand for its Philadelphia centennial, participating in the internationally broadcast World Meeting of Families Concert in 2015, and recording tracks at NFL Films used for Super Bowls XLVIII–LII.
Benjamin has toured the United States, Europe, and Mexico with the Verbier Festival Orchestra, American Institute of Musical Studies, and the Star Wars In Concert Symphony. He collaborated in chamber performances with cellist Clive Greensmith while concertmaster at the Pacific Music Festival and was a member Artosphere Festival Orchestra during its inaugural season. Together with The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, he performed in the 2014 Well-tempered United States tour, led by Grammy Award®-winning saxophonist Branford Marsalis.
Benjamin performs annually in the Summer Chamber Music Series of the Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic Association and has recently presented concerts in Maryland and Pennsylvania with the Nottingham ensemble. He performs on a 2016 Guadagnini copy by Samuel Payton of Philadelphia.
Violinist Regino Madrid is an active soloist, concertmaster, and chamber musician throughout the Washington, D.C. area. Madrid is the concertmaster of The American Pops Orchestra and The McLean Orchestra. He has also appeared as guest concertmaster for the Eclipse Chamber Orchestra, National Gallery Orchestra, National Philharmonic, Chesapeake Orchestra at St. Mary River Concert Series, the Alexandria Symphony, and the Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio. Madrid is a founding member of the critically acclaimed Teiber Trio and has played in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Library of Congress, the Phillips Collection, and The White House. Since making his solo debut at 16, Madrid has appeared with numerous orchestras throughout the United States and abroad. Solo performances include concertos by Beethoven, Bartok, Bach, Mozart, Brahms Double Concerto, Bernstein Serenade, Chausson Po e, Waxman Carmen Fantasy, Vivaldi, Piazzolla, and Richter Recomposed Four Seasons. Madrid received his bachelor of music degree in violin performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music after pursuing a Physiological Science degree from UCLA. Madrid has participated in numerous music festivals, including Santa Barbara Music Academy of the West, Holland Music Sessions, Musicorda, Idyllwilde (CA), and Soundfest (Cape Cod) with the Colorado Quartet. He currently plays on a J.B. Vuillaume violin from 1871.
You can find more information about Regino HERE
Lauren Ellis Scott is a dynamic violinist, violist, and music educator in and around the District of Columbia. She has performed with ensembles including American Institute of Musical Studies Festival Orchestra, Charleston Symphony, Delaware Symphony, Schenectady Symphony Orchestra, The Philly POPS, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Eclipse Chamber Orchestra, and the Maryland Lyric Opera, and she has worked with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Andrea Bocelli, Linda Watson, Bobby Vinton, Ledisi, and Steve Martin. Lauren has recorded music with NFL films for Super Bowls 50, LI, and LII, and her award-winning students have enjoyed performances around the United States and China.You can find more information about You can find more information about
Lauren holds degrees from Temple University and Stony Brook University, and her teachers include William de Pasquale, Kerri Ryan, Emily Schaad, and Richard Roberts. She has worked as a teaching artist for The Philadelphia Orchestra Association, Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, Western Connecticut Youth Orchestra, Greenville County Youth Orchestra, 9th Street Chamber Music, DC Youth Orchestra Program, and American Youth Philharmonic, and she maintains a small teaching studio guided by the principles of Shin’ichi Suzuki. Together with her husband, Lauren regularly performs as a Musician on Call at Children’s National Hospital in addition to other concert, community, and special event performances.
You can find more information about Lauren HERE
Cellist Chen Chen has had the privilege of performing in numerous renowned venues including but not limited to the Buckingham Palace, Wigmore Hall, LSO St. Luke’s, Windsor Castle, the Kennedy Center, Severance Center, Kimmel Cultural Campus, Alice Tully Hall, and the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. She has performed in master classes with such celebrated artists as Itzhak Perlman, Steven Isserlis, Colin Carr, Alisa Weilerstein, as well as the Tokyo, Takács, Jupiter, Miró, St. John’s, and Chilingirian String Quartets. Her playing can be heard on the most recent Grammy-nominated recording “World on a String” by Larry McKenna, released by BCM&D Records. She can also be heard on the York Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming album on Centaur Records.
Chen is a member of the York Symphony Orchestra and the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra. She is also a regularly engaged musician at the Reading Symphony, Fairfax Symphony, and the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra.
Chen earned her D.M.A from Temple University under the guidance of Professor Jeffrey Solow. Past teachers include Mark Kosower, Merry Peckham, Richard Weiss, Natalia Pavlutskaya, Alexander Ivashkin, and Jin Zhang. She teaches cello at Drexel University.
If you’d like to receive Emerson Avenue Salon invitations, you can add yourself to the invitation list HERE.