Hannah Hammel Maser joined the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as Principal Flute in January 2020. She also plays regularly with Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings and New Music Detroit. Before joining the DSO, Hannah held the position of Principal Flute of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra from 2017-2019. 

As an orchestral musician, Hannah has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, Richmond Symphony, and New World Symphony. Hannah has attended summer festivals including Tanglewood Music Center, Music Academy of the West, Pacific Music Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, and Round Top Music Festival.

Hannah is a sought after teacher and orchestral excerpt coach and has been invited to teach for the Cleveland Institute of Music, Oberlin Conservatory, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, University of North Texas, University of Alabama, University of Michigan, and Michigan State University and was a coach for Sphinx's 2022 Audition Intensive at New World Symphony. Hannah has an active private studio in Detroit and also enjoys coaching flutists virtually.

As a soloist, Hannah has won first place in the 2016 National Flute Association's Young Artist Competition, 2016 Houston Flute Club Byron Hester Competition, the 2015 Atlanta Flute Association Young Artist Competition, the 2014 National Flute Association Orchestral Excerpt & Masterclass Competition, 2013 Central Ohio Flute Association Collegiate Division Competition and second place in the 2013 Mid-South Flute Society’s Young Artist Competition. Hannah now serves as the Competition Coordinator for the NFA's Orchestral Excerpt & Masterclass Competition. 

A native of Richmond, VA, Hannah began studying the flute with her mother, Alice Hammel. She holds a BM in flute performance and a minor in music theory from The Oberlin Conservatory (2015) where she studied with Alexa Still. She graduated with her MM in flute performance in 2017 from Rice University's Shepherd School of Music as a student of Leone Buyse.

Hannah plays on an 18K gold Muramatsu flute and a Keefe piccolo. She lives in Detroit with her husband, trombonist Ian Maser, and their two labradoodles, Evelyn and Cooper.

Johanna Yarbrough joined the Detroit Symphony Orchestra horn section in 2012. She came to Detroit after completing a professional studies certificate at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles. Prior to her time in LA, Johanna attended the University of Alabama, where she graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Music degree. Johanna studied abroad at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, Norway.

Johanna has won many prestigious awards, including first prize of the 2009 University division of the International Horn Competition of America. She has appeared as a soloist with the Detroit Symphony and has presented masterclasses and recitals throughout the country. She is a member of the Britt Festival Orchestra, where she performs for 3 weeks in Jacksonville, Oregon each summer. She has performed with several renowned orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Festival Mozaik, and the Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival. She is a frequent guest artist with the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings.

Johanna’s principal teachers include Frøydis Ree Wekre, David Krehbiel, Andrew Bain, Charles "Skip" Snead, and Michelle Stebleton.

Johanna was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida and now resides in Royal Oak, Michigan.

Violinist Hai-Xin Wu joined the Detroit Symphony Orchestra violin section in July 1995 and was appointed Assistant Concertmaster of the DSO in June 2004. He previously performed throughout the United States, Europe and his native China.

At the age of 12, Hai-Xin was selected as the violin soloist of the Chinese Young Artists’ group to tour the former Yugoslavia. In May 1995, he made his Carnegie Hall debut in New York City, performing the Paganini Violin Concerto with the New York Concert Senior Orchestra. Hai-Xin was also featured as soloist with the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra for its 25th Anniversary Gala Concert in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center; with the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra on its recording and Midwest tour; and with Bergen Philharmonic (New Jersey), among others.

Hai-Xin has won competitions including the Waldo Mayo Violin Competition, the Friends of Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra Competition and the Manhattan School of Music Concerto Competition. He also won a special prize in the 2002 Lipizer International Competition. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music as a scholarship student of Ariana Bronne.

In addition to performing with the DSO, Hai-Xin often plays with various chamber groups, such as the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings and the Cuttime Players. From 1998-2001, he was a member of the Sonnet String Quartet as quartet-in-residence at Oakland University. He is currently an adjunct faculty member in the Wayne State University Music Department and a violin and chamber music coach with the Detroit Civic Orchestra.

Elizabeth Furuta began playing the violin at the age of four, inspired by seeing the Tokyo String Quartet on Sesame Street. She previously played in the Cincinnati Symphony, and was second associate concertmaster of the Omaha Symphony before that. Elizabeth holds bachelor and master’s degrees in violin performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she received the Dr. Bennett Levine Memorial Award in Chamber Music. Her primary teachers include William Preucil and David Updegraff. An avid chamber musician, Elizabeth has worked with members of the Brentano, Cavani, Cleveland, Emerson, Juilliard, Shanghai, Takács, and Tokyo quartets, and has participated in the Banff Chamber Music Residency, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Fischoff competition, and the Taos School of Music. Other notable performances include a solo performance for former United States Supreme Court Justice David Souter and an appearance as the musical guest on NPR's nationally broadcast program Says You.

Currently Assistant Principal Violist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, James VanValkenburg came to orchestral playing after a satisfying career in chamber music. As a founding member of the International String Quartet, he toured the world with concerts in Europe, the Far East, South America, as well as the U.S. The quartet won several notable prizes, including the Munich Competition, East & West Artists of New York, and was the first winner of the Premier Grand Prix at the International Chamber Music Competition of Evian, France.

Since joining the DSO in 1986, Jim has participated in several summer festivals including Lockenhaus, Newport, Strings in the Mountains as well as the American String Project in Seattle in 2011. He served as Principal Violist of the Bellingham, WA music festival in 2012 and 2013 and of the Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra in 2014. In 2016 he was soloist with the University of Michigan Band, an ensemble his father played in over 60 years earlier.

A graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy and Indiana University School of Music, he has enjoyed chamber music collaborations with many of his favorite musicians, among them Menahem Pressler, Gidon Kremer, Mischa Maisky, David Shifrin, and Isaac Stern. Recent recordings include a violin, viola duet of William Bolcom, Piano Quartets of Franz Waxman and the Stravinsky Septet, on Koch, and the Beethoven Septet on Philips.

Jim is in demand as a soloist and chamber musician, becoming the first violist to be a permanent member of Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings in 2004, and appeared as soloist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2005, 2013 and 2014. He performs on a rare viola by Antonio Ungarini of Fabriano, Italy, made in 1740.

Jim has been happily married to Farah since 1986. They have two sons. Noah is working as a manager for a large firm in Philadelphia and Eliot is a data analyst for a tech company in Boston. Jim spends much of his free time training for Ironman Triathlons and has started and completed five, including Ironman Hawaii in 2004.

Cole Randolph, a Posse Foundation Leadership scholar, is a recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison with degrees in mathematics, music (performance), and economics. Cole was born and raised in Washington DC, and began playing the cello at the age of five. He has performed in many venues including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The White House.

Cole studied cello under Uri Vardi, and has performed in masterclasses for various artists including Alban Gerhardt, Clive Greensmith, and Timothy Eddy. Throughout his collegiate career, Cole has participated in a myriad of musical and non-musical activities. In the summer of 2016, he had the unique opportunity to participate in the Leadership Alliance program at the University of Chicago, conducting mathematics research under the supervision of Dr. Benson Farb. Cole presented his findings at two research symposia in Illinois and Connecticut.

Minnesota native Kevin Brown began playing the bass at age 3. He has since gone on to perform with esteemed ensembles across the United States in a burgeoning career that has led him back to the Midwest as principal bass of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and Associate Professor of Double Bass at Michigan State University.

Kevin completed his Bachelors and Masters degrees at Rice University as a student of Paul Ellison. While at Rice, Kevin performed extensively with the Houston Symphony, including tours to New York and Moscow. In 2009 he won the International Society of Bassists Orchestral Competition, earning a week as a guest in the Philadelphia Orchestra bass section. Before his appointment to the DSO in 2014, Kevin also appeared as guest principal bass of the Atlanta Symphony.

Beyond orchestral performance, Kevin is an active soloist and chamber musician. Kevin gave his concerto debut with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2015.

Kevin is also a deeply committed educator, and joined the faculty of Michigan State University in 2017. Outside of Michigan, he has taught as a guest at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Northwestern University, the University of Southern California, Texas Christian University, the Colburn School, and Rice University.