Musicians from the 2025 Alumni String Quartet share thoughts on the importance of spreading the art form
The National Repertory Orchestra is mostly known as an 80-piece collective of the nation’s and world’s most talented young classical musicians that performs powerful concerts twice a week throughout the summer. However, there’s a major component of the organization that moves through the community on a smaller but equally powerful scale.
The NRO Alumni String Quartet heads up much of the NRO’s community engagement – free performances throughout the summer in sometimes surprising places – in the woods in front of the troll sculpture, on the porch of a historic cabin, at libraries throughout the county. The quartet is comprised of the NRO’s most talented past fellows and the 2025 ensemble happens to include three musicians who were all part of the orchestra’s Class of 2024, violinists Solveig Geenen and Sadie Hamrin, cellist Haley Rasmussen as well as violist Tyler Bruggman, Class of 2022 and 2023.
In this four-part series, quartet musicians discuss the importance of their work as an ensemble and the contagious energy they emanate in the community.
“One of my favorite things about my NRO experience last summer was interacting with different members of the community, whether it was weekly meals with my host parents, talking to audience members after concerts or performing in a park for a community engagement concert,” Geenen says. “Breckenridge is such a beautiful area, and the people here are so friendly and warm. It’s a bonus that I’m an avid hiker, and I get to spend another summer hiking in one of the most beautiful places in the world.”
Hailing from Missouri with a Bachelors degree from Northwestern University and a Masters from the University of Michigan, Geenen performs with the Detroit Opera Orchestra, the Ann Arbor Symphony and the Lansing Symphony. Her goal is to land a full-time orchestra job, but she believes this summer’s experience performing as a quartet will be vital in her development as a musician.
“Through playing chamber music, I’ve learned how to communicate better with others, both musically and personally, and honed my own musical ideas and opinions. By spending the summer focusing so intensely on developing my skills as a chamber musician, I know I will continue to grow as an artist and a communicator, which will enhance my orchestral and solo playing,” she says. “Another important aspect of being a musician is learning how to interact with and speak to audiences of all ages and backgrounds, so having the opportunity to play in so many different settings for a wide variety of people will benefit my skills as a speaker and a performer, as well.”
Musicians from the orchestra also break into ensembles to perform free concerts throughout the community. Last summer, Geenen teamed up with Hamrin and Rasmussen for a memorable, truly interactive community performance.
“We played in an outdoor park in Breckenridge and centered our program around music and emotions,” she recalls. “It was fun to ask the audience what emotions they associated with the different pieces we played and to hear their perspectives. It made me think about the pieces of music we selected differently than I had before, and audience members told us afterwards that it was a fun and engaging way for them to connect with the music, as well.”
Beginning this week, you’ll find the Alumni String Quartet performing free concerts all over Summit County, including Geenen’s most anticipated event, the Chamber Concert in Breckenridge on July 16, a program that she and the Quartet personally created.
“We’re playing repertoire that we’re all really excited about,” she says. “I’m personally very excited to play Britten String Quartet No. 2, which is a bucket-list quartet of mine. We also get to perform with the Yamaha Piano Competition Winners, which is always inspiring to work with such talented young musicians. I’m also looking forward to our library performances throughout the summer. I’m an avid reader and grew up going to the library to pick out books to read every week with my dad, so I’m excited to bring string quartets to this setting and put them with a book for kids.”
Geenen believes that these types of events are mandatory for the future of classical music, as it introduces and inspires love for the artform among a crowd that might otherwise never experience it. Even as a child, she witnessed the magic of this phenomenon, performing in hospitals and nursing homes.
“By having performances in public settings throughout the community, such as parks and libraries, people who may not have a background going to classical music concerts can listen to and experience the music, and then they may become interested in attending larger-scale orchestra concerts that the NRO puts on,” she says. “It’s also a great way for younger children to experience classical music, as a more formal classical music concert can be difficult for kids to sit through quietly. For me personally, some of the most impactful performances that I’ve given have been in a community engagement setting. I grew up playing in nursing homes and hospitals with a group of violinists from my mom’s studio. Many people in these settings aren’t able to physically attend performances in concert halls, so bringing the music to them feels especially meaningful. I love seeing that people connect emotionally with the music that I play, and I think an important part of making that connection with people is bringing music into the community.”
Upcoming free events with the NRO Alumni String Quartet:
JUNE 26: Music in the Mountains at 1:30 at Barney Ford Museum in Breckenridge, Keystone Encore at the Quaking Aspen Amphitheater in Keystone at 5 p.m.
JUNE 28: Keystone Encore, 10 a.m., River Run Village
JULY 2: Keystone Encore, 4 p.m., Quaking Aspen Amphitheater, Keystone
JULY 4: Pop-Up Concert, 12 p.m., Blue River Plaza, Breckenridge
JULY 10: Library Visit: Frisco, 10:30 a.m. Library Visit: Breckenridge, 4:30 p.m.
JULY 16: Chamber Concert, 6 p.m., Riverwalk Center, Breckenridge
JULY 23: Pop-Up Concert, 1 p.m., Frisco Historic Park Gazebo, Frisco
JULY 26: Keystone Encore, 10 a.m., River Run Village, Keystone
JULY 28: Pop-Up Concert, 5:30 p.m., Silverthorne Performing Arts Center, Silverthorne
To view the full calendar of this summer’s NRO events, visit nromusic.org.
PHOTO: The 2025 NRO Alumni String Quartet performs at a Montessori School in June. Solveig Geenen is the first violinist from left. By Elaine Collins.