Aaron Goldman was appointed principal flute of the National Symphony Orchestra by Christoph Eschenbach in January 2013. An active soloist, he has performed throughout the U.S. and made his NSO concerto debut with Maestro Eschenbach in 2014. Goldman joined the NSO as assistant principal flute in 2006. Prior to joining the NSO, he was principal flute of the Orlando Philharmonic and began his orchestral career as acting principal flute of the Greater Lansing Symphony for the 1999–2000 season. Aside from his appearances with the NSO, Goldman has performed concertos with the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, Virginia Chamber Orchestra, Arlington Philharmonic, Orlando Philharmonic, the Chamber Orchestra of Florida, and has performed at several National Flute Association annual conventions. He has performed with the Kennedy Center Chamber Players, KC Jukebox, Eclipse Chamber Orchestra, the National Chamber Players, the 21st Century Consort, and the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra. Goldman appears regularly as guest artist at universities and flute festivals and has taught at the New World Symphony, the National Orchestral Institute, the National Youth Orchestra, the Master Players Festival, and the NSO’s Summer Music Institute. He has given lectures at the Carnegie Institute and the Smithsonian Institution with programs such as “The Magical Flute” and “Math and Music: Closer Than You Think” alongside former NSO cellist Yvonne Caruthers. Goldman received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music where he studied with Bonita Boyd.

A native of China, Lin Ma was appointed principal clarinetist of the National Symphony Orchestra by Gianandrea Noseda in 2018. Prior to joining the NSO, he had served as assistant principal and E-flat clarinetist of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra since 2015. He also played a one-year position as second clarinetist in the Houston Symphony. Ma won the 2014 Ima Hogg International Competition and performed as soloist with the Houston Symphony Orchestra. Later, he appeared as soloist at the Baytown Symphony Orchestra’s 2014–2015 season opener. In addition, Ma soloed with National Repertory Orchestra at the NRO music festival in 2013.

Ma earned his Master of Music degree at Rice University, under the tutelage of Richie Hawley, and he holds a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin Conservatory of Music where he studied with Richard Hawkins. Ma has also studied at the Idyllwild Arts Academy with Yehuda Gilad and the middle school attached to the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing with Yuanfu Huang. 

Ma is a Buffet Crampon Performing Artist.

Violinist Heather LeDoux Green joined the National Symphony Orchestra in 2005 and became a member of the first violin section in 2007. She came to the NSO after spending two years as assistant concertmaster of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. Prior to Washington D.C., Green was a member of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. She received her Master of Music degree from Rice University studying with Sergiu Luca. As an undergraduate, she was a student of esteemed violinist Camilla Wicks. She considers Wicks her greatest mentor, dutifully following her to three schools and graduating from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. As a chamber musician, she is a new member of the Manchester String Quartet and has performed with the Kennedy Center Chamber Players, Smithsonian Chamber Players, Eclipse, Spoleto, Sun Valley, Music in the Mountains, and Round Top. She has participated in Italy’s Accademia Chigiana, Mozarteum Academy in Austria, and the Amadeus Quartet Program in London. She has soloed with the NSO, performing Tan Dun’s “Hero” concerto with the composer conducting. Most recently, she and NSO bassist Paul DeNola have written a comedic children’s program featuring short classical works. They have been featured in the Kennedy Center Family Theater and perform regularly for schools sharing music and humor with young audiences.

Jane Bowyer Stewart is a first violinist with the National Symphony Orchestra, which she joined in 1981. She earned both her Bachelor of Arts (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and Master of Music degrees from Yale University.

A devoted chamber musician, Stewart is a regular guest artist with the Kennedy Center Chamber Players and the 21st Century Consort. She has performed extensively at the Terrace Theater, the Phillips Collection, the Corcoran Gallery, and the Library of Congress. Currently a member of the Columbia String Quartet and the Eclipse Chamber Orchestra, she has also performed and recorded with the Chamber Soloists of Washington, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Chamber Ensemble, and the Manchester String Quartet. Her chamber music CDs include one Grammy Award® nominee.

As a concerto soloist, Stewart has appeared with the National Symphony Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony, and the Eclipse Chamber Orchestra. She plays a violin made in 1691 by Venetian master Matteo Goffriller.

National Symphony Orchestra Principal Violist Daniel Foster’s varied career encompasses orchestral, chamber, and solo playing, as well as teaching. Since capturing the First Prize in both the William Primrose and Washington International Competitions, he has appeared in recital and as soloist with orchestra in Washington, D.C. and throughout the United States. After Studying with Jeffrey Irvine and Lynne Ramsey at Oberlin Conservatory and with Karen Tuttle at The Curtis Institute, Mr. Foster joined the National Symphony’s viola section in 1993 and was appointed Principal by Music Director Leonard Slatkin in 1995. Foster has appeared frequently as soloist with the National Symphony since his appointment.

Foster was a member of the critically acclaimed Dryden Quartet, which he founded along with his cousins Nicolas and Yumi Kendall and National Symphony Concertmaster Nurit Bar-Josef. He is currently a member of the 21st Century Consort, and is a founding member of the Kennedy Center Chamber Players. Foster has performed chamber music at the Marlboro, Bowdoin, Killington, and Alpenglow Festivals, and at Strings in the Mountains. Foster appears regularly on a number of chamber music series in the Washington, D.C. area.

Foster is on the faculty at the University of Maryland, where his former students have gone on to major orchestral and university positions, and he has been a faculty member at the Bowdoin and Killington festivals. Mr. Foster has given master classes at Oberlin and Peabody Conservatories, the University of Michigan and the Cleveland Institute of Music and is a member of the “International Principals” faculty at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan.

Foster comes from a musical family. In addition to his violinist and cellist cousins, his father William was also a violist with the National Symphony from 1968–2018, and his grandfather John Kendall was a renowned violin pedagogue. His wife Adria Sternstein Foster is the Principal Flutist of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra.

David Hardy, principal cello of the National Symphony Orchestra, achieved international recognition in 1982 as the top American prize winner at the seventh International Tchaikovsky Cello Competition in Moscow. Mr. Hardy won a special prize for the best performance of the Suite for Solo Cello by Victoria Yagling, commissioned for the competition. Tass particularly praised Mr. Hardy's performance of the Dvořák Cello Concerto. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, David Hardy began his cello studies there at the age of eight. He was 16 when he made his debut as soloist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

When he was 21 years old, Mr. Hardy won the certificate in the prestigious Geneva International Cello Competition. The next year, he was graduated from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Laurence Lesser, Stephen Kates, and Berl Senofsky. In 1981 he was appointed to the National Symphony Orchestra as associate principal cello by its then music director, Mstislav Rostropovich. In 1994 Mr. Hardy was named principal cello of the NSO by its next music director, Leonard Slatkin. Mr. Hardy made his solo debut with the National Symphony Orchestra in 1986 with Mstislav Rostropovich conducting. A regular soloist with the NSO, Hardy, in 2004, gave the world premiere performance, with Leonard Slatkin conducting, of Stephen Jaffe's Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, which was commissioned by the John and June Hechinger Fund for New Orchestral Works. Mr. Hardy gave the European premiere of the Jaffe concerto in Slovenia in 2007. Bridge Records released the premiere recording of the Concerto with Mr. Hardy and the Odense Symphony of Denmark.

The National Symphony Orchestra recording of John Corigliano's Symphony No. 1 featuring Mr. Hardy's solo cello performance won the 1996 Grammy Award® for Best Classical Album. Another recent recording—in collaboration with NSO principal keyboard Lambert Orkis—is Beethoven Past & Present, consisting of two complete performances of Beethoven's eight works for piano and cello, performed on both modern and period instruments. Mr. Hardy is a founding member of the Opus 3 Trio with violinist Charles Wetherbee and pianist Lisa Emenheiser. The Opus 3 Trio has since performed to critical acclaim across the country and has commissioned, premiered, and recorded many new works. Mr. Hardy is also a founding member of the Kennedy Center Chamber Players. Additionally, Mr. Hardy was cellist of the 20th Century Consort in Washington, D.C., where he premiered works by Stephen Albert, Nicholas Maw, and Joseph Schwantner. Mr. Hardy's playing can be heard on recordings under the Melodyia, Educo, RCA, London, Centaur, and Delos labels.

Critics in Washington and beyond have praised his virtuosic technique and deep musical sensitivity. Mr. Hardy's instruments were made by Carlo Giuseppe Testore in 1694 and Raymond Hardy in 2000.

In addition to his performing schedule, Mr. Hardy is professor of cello at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, Maryland.

Lambert Orkis's substantial career includes more than 11 years of concertizing with cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. For 30 years, the celebrated duo of violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and pianist Lambert Orkis has appeared to capacity audiences in the finest performance venues. The duo's many recordings and DVDs for Deutsche Grammophon include sonata cycles by Mozart (Choc de l'annee Award), Beethoven (Grammy Award®), and Brahms. Recent releases include The Silver Album celebrating 25 years of their artistic partnership, The Club Album issued in both CD and video formats, and a performance of Krzysztof Penderecki's Sonata No. 2 for violin and piano in commemoration of the composer's 85th birthday.

Orkis has premiered and recorded compositions by numerous composers for bridge Records, including solo works written for him by George Crumb, Richard Wernick, and James Primosch. With NSO Principal Cello David Hardy, Orkis performs Beethoven's cycle of works for piano and cello on the Sono Luminus label. He appears regularly at the most prestigious festivals throughout the world, such as the Salzburg and Lucerne Festivals, and recently returned to Sydney as distinguished performing artist and teacher for Australia Musica Viva Festival. He performs and has recorded as a member of the Kennedy Center Chamber Players and the Smithsonian Institution's Castle Trio (period instruments), and holds the positions of Principal Keyboard of the National Symphony Orchestra and Professor of Piano at Temple University in Philadelphia. The Federal Republic of Germany has bestowed upon Lambert Orkis the Cross of the Order of Merit in acknowledgment of his accomplishments.

Steinway Artist Lisa Emenheiser has been performing with the National Symphony Orchestra for the past 30 years.  A native of Washington, D.C., Emenheiser began her piano studies at the age of four and made her debut at the age of 17, performing the Grieg Piano Concerto with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the “President’s Own” United States Marine Band. A graduate of The Juilliard School, Emenheiser has performed in recital at Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fischer Hall, and Carnegie Recital Hall and appeared in many venues in D.C., including the National Gallery, Phillips Collection, Smithsonian Institution, and the Kennedy Center.  Emenheiser has appeared as soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Richmond Symphony, the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, the Virginia Chamber Orchestra, the Fairfax Symphony, the McLean Orchestra, and was one of the featured piano soloists at the Kennedy Center’s Piano 2000 Festival. She was also a soloist for the Kennedy Center’s “Journey to America” Festival and the NSO’s “Composer Portrait:  Mozart.” As an established chamber musician, Emenheiser has performed across the United States as well as at many international venues, including performances with some of the world’s most renowned artists.  She is also an avid performer of contemporary music and is a pianist for the 21st Century Consort.  Most recently Emenheiser recorded for the Steinway Spirio collection and can be heard performing works of Respighi and Rzewski. She has also recorded for Pro Arte, VAI Audio, Centaur, Arabesque, Delos, AUR, and Cascades labels.  Emenheiser has appeared on national television as an expert artist commentator and performer in the PBS documentary entitled “Exploring Your Brain”.  A committed teacher, she holds a private studio in her home and has represented the NSO on various occasions by teaching master classes and serving as piano instructor for numerous cultural exchange liaisons.  Her students are top prize-winners in both local and national competitions.

Eric Schnobrick appears often with the National Symphony Orchestra as a pianist, organist, and keyboard player. He has played with the Washington Ballet Orchestra, Alexandria Choral Society, and has performed for Washington Performing Arts both as a pianist with the Men and Women of the Gospel Choir and as an accompanist for community outreach and education concerts. He spent nearly six years as the General Manager and Assistant Executive Director of the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestras, where he was responsible for the day-to-day operations of one of the country’s premiere youth orchestra programs.

Before settling in Virginia, Eric spent five seasons as the artistic events and music manager at the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, NY, where he planned and accompanied events and recitals featuring many world-class artists. He has been engaged as a repetiteur by Minnesota Opera where he led offstage choruses for the world premiere recording of Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath, at Fort Worth Opera as an assistant conductor both for Little Women and the world premiere of Thomas Pasatieri’s Frau Margot, and by Palm Beach Opera as an assistant chorus master and outreach conductor. He has further experience as an educator working as a coach/conductor at the Seagle Music Colony and the Young Artists Training Programme at the New National Theatre in Tokyo. 

In addition to being the pianist and organist at Beth El Hebrew Congregation, Eric is Director of Music at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Alexandria where he oversees all musical planning, conducts two choirs, and leads a new concert series.