A native of Athens Greece, Russian violinist Alexander Volkov joined the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2020. 

Volkov studied with Professor Atis Bankas and Peter Seminovs at the Phil and Eli Taylor Academy for Young Artists as well as the Glenn Gould School in Toronto. He was a recipient of The Ihnatowycz Emerging Artist Scholarships, receiving full scholarship for his degree.

During the pursuit of his degree in violin performance, Volkov participated in a variety of festivals, competitions, and training programs. Over several years, he won first prizes in Kiwanis, Leons, and North York festivals. In addition, he was a three-time first-place winner of the Canadian Music Competition and was awarded the grand prize in 2013. The following year, he won the Glenn Gould Concerto Competition where he performed the Brahms Violin Concerto with the Royal Conservatory Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Leon Fleisher. He also frequently performed as a soloist with the Cathedral Bluffs Symphony, York Symphony, and Aurora Chamber Ensemble and Sherbrooke Symphony Orchestra.

Volkov participated in prestigious orchestra training festivals such as the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, Leonard Bernstein’s Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in Germany (twice), and the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan (thrice). These training programs led him to perform as a fellow at the New York Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Most notably, he trained at the Institute for Orchestral Studies at the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, Canada. 

Prior to joining the symphony, Volkov held section violin positions at the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, Canada and Quebec Symphony Orchestra in Quebec City, Canada. He was a frequent substitute violinist at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He owes his achievements to his parents, who are graduates of the Moscow Conservatory and have extensive musical backgrounds.

Jiamin Wang is one of the most talented violinists who has emerged rapidly in recent years from China. This past spring she was invited by world-renowned composer/conductor Tan Dun as a soloist to play his Water Passion with MDR Radio Choir. She was also asked to play his Hero Concerto for violin and orchestra with the National Orchestra of Madrid, Spain in 2010.

While still in school, Wang was the recipient of several scholarships and international awards. She won the “Youth Performance Award” in the 8th National Professional Violin Competition in Qingdao, 2006. In 2007, she won second prize in the Bucharest Romania International Violin Competition. In July 2009, she graduated with excellence from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Professor Xuan He, and was awarded a scholarship to continue post-graduate studies. In the same year, she also won the orchestra fellow audition of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.

During her studies, she was the concertmaster of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music’s Youth Symphony Orchestra. After finishing her master’s degree, Wang entered Bard College Conservatory of Music, studying with Weigang Li. She also had masterclasses with Shmuel Ashkenasi and Ani Kavafian at Bard.

Wang started learning the violin with her mother at the age of 6. As a soloist, she has performed with the Singapore Festival Orchestra, the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra. She is also very active in chamber and contemporary music. Since 2010, she has performed more than 100 concerts in Tan Dun's Water Heavens in Shanghai as the first violin in the string quartet.

Mike Chen received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Northwestern University, studying violin with Blair Milton. In 1999 he began playing the viola and studied with Li-Kuo Chang. His other teachers included Michael Strauss, Peter Slowik, Keith Conant, and Baird Dodge.

Chen was a member of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra from 2012 to 2018, a member of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra from 2003 to 2012, and prior to that, a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago from 1992 to 1995. He has performed with the Detroit Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and Chicago Symphony. In 2017, Chen joined the Cincinnati Symphony on its European Festivals Tour.

He received a master’s degree in conducting at Northwestern University in 1999, studying with Victor Yampolsky and Mariusz Smolij. His other conducting teachers include Gilbert Varga, David Zinman, and Murry Sidlin.

Chen was a conducting fellow at the American Academy of Conducting in Aspen, Colorado in 2008. He has also served as Assistant Conductor of the Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra, Guest Conductor of the Webster University Community Music School’s Young People’s Symphony Orchestra, and Guest Conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony Side-by-Side Orchestra.

David LeDoux comes to the orchestra from the Syracuse Symphony, where he served as Principal Cellist from 2006–2012.

LeDoux has appeared as a soloist with the Syracuse Symphony, the Skaneatelas Festival Chamber Orchestra, the Tulsa Philharmonic, the Oklahoma State University Symphony, the Louisiana Sinfonietta and the Mid-Texas Symphony.

LeDoux is an active and avid chamber musician, performing for many years with the Syracuse Society for New Music. As a committed private teacher, he spent last year as a cello instructor for Imagine Syracuse—a music program in an inner-city school that was modeled after the El Sistema program in Venezuela.

Previous professional engagements for LeDoux included serving as Principal Cellist with the Baton Rouge (LA) Symphony, the Mississippi Gulf Coast Symphony, and the Louisiana Sinfonietta.

LeDoux has studied with Ronald Leonard, Dennis Parker, and Kari Padgett Caldwell. Currently a resident of Madison Heights, LeDoux’s hobbies include reading, running, and movies.