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Sunday July 24 2022
Emerson Avenue Salonlines Proudly Presents
a Live YouTube Broadcast
– A “hybrid” concert –
Benjamin Scott, violin
Atticus Mellor-Goldman, cello
Minji Nam, piano
Budding Romantics
If you’re a regular listener of NPR’s All Things Considered, you’re already familiar with the chamber music of Louise Farrenc, a remarkable figure whose life and work are significant in bridging the oft lamented “gap” in music history between Beethoven and Brahms. Born Jeanne-Louise Dumont in 1804, Louise Farrenc was a prodigious pianist who was studying at the Paris Conservatory by age 15, and she would go on to become the only woman to hold a permanent faculty position at the Conservatory in the 19th century. The popularity of her Nonet, op. 38 in 1850 resulted in both a collaboration with violinist Joseph Joachim and an increased salary, finally equal to that of her male colleagues at the Paris Conservatory.
Her husband, flutist and music publisher Aristide Farrenc, became a great supporter of her talent as a composer. Trio in e minor, op. 45, composed during 1861-2, is Louise Farrenc’s last chamber work. There were few precedents for trios of flute, cello, and piano – and only a few notable compositions afterwards – so Farrenc took the advice of her publisher in including an alternate violin part.
There is no evidence that young Johannes Brahms met or knew Louise Farrenc when he began writing the first of his piano trios in 1854, but their professional and social circles certainly overlapped with musicians including Joseph Joachim and Robert Schumann. No sooner had the Trio for piano, violin, and cello in B Major, op. 8 gone to Breitkopf und Härtel in 1854 did Brahms begin confiding in Joachim his many doubts about the work. Thirty-six years later, when the rights were sold to Simrock, Brahms made sweeping changes to the first and last movements to create a work “not as dreary as before.”
Biographies
Benjamin Scott joined the violin section of the National Symphony Orchestra in 2018 after years as a dynamic freelance musician. He performed and recorded with the Pittsburgh Symphony and The Philly POPS, and acted as associate concertmaster of the National Philharmonic. As a frequent substitute violinist in The Philadelphia Orchestra from 2012-2018, Benjamin enjoyed many new and unique experiences ranging from tours throughout Europe and Asia to performing for Pope Francis at the World Meeting of Families in 2015. He has performed in cities throughout North America, Europe, and Asia with the Verbier Festival Orchestra, the American Institute of Musical Studies Festival Orchestra, the Star Wars “In Concert” Symphony, the Pacific Music Festival, Artosphere’s inaugural season, and on Branford Marsalis’s “Well-Tempered” Tour, and he has recorded music for the NFL’s use at Super Bowls XLVII to LII.
As the third Fellowship Recipient to be appointed to the NSO, Benjamin values the many ways that his community engages in music. He has performed more than fifteen benefit concerts for the Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic Association, and he has collaborated with members of the Nottingham Ensemble for performances in support of Encircle and the Boulanger Initiative, organizations with missions of inclusivity. Benjamin participates in concerts that bring music to different neighborhoods in the District of Columbia, curates music therapy sessions in partnership with the Levine School of Music, and volunteers as Musician on Call at the Children’s National Hospital.
When he isn’t playing his 2016 Guadagnini copy by Samuel Payton, exploring new corners of the world with his wife, learning to cook new cuisines, or playing with his cat, Benjamin loves to craft leather goods by hand!
Atticus Mellor-Goldman, originally from Los Angeles, California, received his Bachelor’s degree in 2019 from the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings and studied with Julie Albers, Hans Jensen, and Richard Aaron. He went on to earn his Masters degree in 2021 from Yale University, where he studied with Paul Watkins and Ole Akahoshi. Upon graduation, Mellor-Goldman moved to Washington, D.C. after winning a position in the Air Force Strings.
He has performed at concert venues around the world and has been featured on NPR’s “From the Top” and American Public Media’s “Performance Today,”. In 2015, his string quartet from Los Angeles was awarded the Gold Medal Prize of the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition’s Junior division. In 2014, he was selected as one of two musicians to act as a “cultural ambassador” for New York University Abu Dhabi. He is also a past winner of the Townsend School of Music’s concerto competition.
He has also been privileged to perform chamber music alongside distinguished artists Osmo Vänskä, Erin Keefe, Edgar Meyer, Ivano Zaneghi, Amy Moretti, Rebecca Albers, Annie Fullard, and Robert McDuffie. His chamber music and orchestral experience includes the summer festivals of Kneisel Hall, Rome Chamber Music Festival, Moritzburg Festival Academy, Sarasota Music Festival, Festival Schiermonnikoog, and the Bowdoin International Music Festival Fellowship Program.
Mellor-Goldman currently resides in Fairfax, Virginia with his wife Minji.
Minji Nam, a native of Seoul, South Korea, is an energetic pianist, chamber musician and vocal coach.
As an experienced collaborative pianist and vocal coach, Minji has worked for Yale University, the Aspen Music Festival and School, Bowdoin International Music Festival, the McDuffie Center for Strings, Florida State University, and the MTNA competition. Minji was the head Coordinator and Collaborative Pianist at the Yale School of Music, where she enjoyed working with the students and renowned faculty. At Florida State University, she also worked as the Associate Coordinator of Accompanying, as well as the music director for their opera outreach program, where she created programs designed to be more approachable for underprivileged kids without a lot of classical music exposure. As a vocal coach, she worked with FSU singers in the opera productions for Don Giovannni, Béatric et Bénédict, Alcina, and Carmen.
Minji has been privileged to perform in recitals with some of the most sought-after artists, including Hsin-Yun Huang, Demarre McGill, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Evan Jones, Robert McDuffie, and Walfrid Kujala. Recent Guest Artist invitations include Residencies for the Atlanta Chamber players, the Hawaii Chamber Music Festival, and the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival. Additionally, she has played in Masterclasses for the renowned artists Emmanuel Pahud, Hilary Hahn, Augustin Hadelich, Anne Sophie-Mutter, Kyung-Sun Lee, Midori, Robert Lipsett, Lambert Orkis, Renée Fleming, and Jessye Norman. Upcoming highlights for 202 include recording an album with her good friend and longtime duo partner Jacquelin Cordova-Arrington.
In her past time, she enjoys playing the violin, painting, and cooking with her husband Atticus, a cellist in the Air Force Strings.
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