Jader Bignamini was introduced as the 18th music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in January 2020, commencing with the 2020–2021 season. His infectious passion and artistic excellence set the tone for the seasons ahead, creating extraordinary music and establishing a close relationship with the orchestra. A jazz aficionado, he has immersed himself in Detroit’s rich jazz culture and the influences of American music.

In December, Bignamini returned to Detroit to lead a triumphant performance of Jessie Montgomery’s Starburst, Strauss’s Concerto for Oboe and Small Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, “Eroica.” He returned again in May 2021 to conduct four programs including performances with violinist Midori and pianist Orli Shaham.

A native of Crema, Italy, Bignamini studied at the Piacenza Music Conservatory and began his career as a musician (clarinet) with Orchestra Sinfonica La Verdi in Milan, later serving as the group’s resident conductor. Captivated by the operatic arias of legends like Mahler and Tchaikovsky, Jader explored their complexity and power, puzzling out the role that each instrument played in creating a larger-than-life sound. When he conducted his first professional concert at the age of 28, it didn’t feel like a departure, but an arrival.

In the years since, Bignamini has conducted some of the world’s most acclaimed orchestras and opera companies in venues across the globe including working with Riccardo Chailly on concerts of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony in 2013 and his concert debut at La Scala in 2015 for the opening season of La Verdi Orchestra. Recent highlights include debuts with the Houston, Dallas, and Minnesota symphonies; Osaka Philharmonic and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo; with the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, and Dutch National Opera (Madama Butterfly); Bayerische Staatsoper (La Traviata); I Puritani in Montpellier for the Festival of Radio France; Traviata in Tokyo directed by Sofia Coppola; return engagements with Oper Frankfurt (La forza del destino) and Santa Fe Opera (La Bohème); Manon Lescaut at the Bolshoi; Traviata, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot at Arena of Verona; Il Trovatoreand Aida at Rome’s Teatro dell’Opera; Madama Butterfly, I Puritani, and Manon Lescaut at Teatro Massimo in Palermo; Simon Boccanegra and La Forza del Destino at the Verdi Festival in Parma; Ciro in Babilonia at Rossini Opera Festival and La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, and Elisir d’amore at La Fenice in Venice.

When Bignamini leads an orchestra in symphonic repertoire, he conducts without a score, preferring to make direct eye contact with the musicians. He conducts from the heart, forging a profound connection with his musicians that shines through both onstage and off. He both embodies and exudes the excellence and enthusiasm that has long distinguished the DSO’s artistry.

Hannah Hammel Maser joined the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as Principal Flute in January 2020. Before joining the DSO, Maser held the position of Principal Flute of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra from 2017–2019. An active chamber musician, she frequently curates and performs recitals with her DSO colleagues and has performed with chamber music organizations including Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings and New Music Detroit.

As an orchestral musician, Maser has performed as guest Principal Flute with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and also as a guest in the sections of the New York Philharmonic, Fort Worth Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, Richmond Symphony, New World Symphony, and the Cleveland Orchestra, including as a guest with them on a tour to Austria. Maser has attended summer festivals including Tanglewood Music Center, Music Academy of the West, Pacific Music Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, and Round Top Music Festival.

Maser joined the Flute Faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2024 and served as acting Assistant Professor of Flute at Michigan State University during the spring semester of 2023. Maser is a sought-after teacher and orchestral excerpt coach and has been invited to teach for the Oberlin Conservatory, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, University of North Texas, University of Alabama, University of Michigan, and Interlochen Arts Academy. Maser regularly coaches flutists through the Sphinx Organization and was a coach for Sphinx's 2022 Audition Intensive with the New World Symphony. Maser maintains an active private studio in Detroit and a robust virtual flute studio, consisting largely of advanced flutists auditioning for professional orchestras. Maser is also enthusiastically involved in DSO community engagement performances and educational outreach programs, including regularly working with youth orchestra members of the Civic Youth Ensembles and adult flutists in the Detroit Community Ensembles.

Maser has been featured as a soloist with the DSO on numerous occasions, including performances of Carl Reinecke's Flute Concerto, Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, and a world premiere of Jeff Scott's Paradise Valley Serenade for wind quintet and orchestra. As a student, Maser won first prize in the National Flute Association's Young Artist Competition, with special distinction given for the Best Performance of the Newly Commissioned Piece, and the Orchestral Excerpt & Masterclass Competition and is the only flutist in NFA history to have won all three honors. She also won first prize in the Houston Flute Club Byron Hester Competition, the Atlanta Flute Association Young Artist Competition, the Central Ohio Flute Association Collegiate Division Competition, and second prize in the Mid-South Flute Society Young Artist Competition. An active member of the National Flute Association, she now serves as the Competition Coordinator for their Orchestral Excerpt & Masterclass Competition.

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

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