Korean violinist Heidi Han first picked up a violin at the age of 5. Born and raised in Korea, she continued her studies with JaeKwang Song while attending Yewon School of Arts. When Heidi was 13, her family moved to Vancouver, BC, Canada, and she continued her studies with Robert Davidovici. While in Canada, she served Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra as a concertmaster and won first prize of the Kiwanis Competition, Burnaby Clef Concerto Competition, and the Young Artists of British Columbia Competition.

Heidi received both her bachelors and graduate performance diploma from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, earning the Peabody Merit Scholarship for both programs. During her time at Peabody, Heidi studied with Victor Danchenko and was the concertmaster for the Peabody Concert Orchestra. While pursuing her degrees, she won the first prize in the Marbury Competition and was awarded the Josef Kaspar Award. She was also invited to join the Keshet Eilon International Violin Mastercourse in Israel to study with Shlomo Mintz.

Currently, Heidi plays with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as a second violinist and lives in Detroit, Michigan where she enjoys making great music with her colleagues and husband, Will Haapaniemi.

Born in Guangyuan, China, Mingzhao Zhou began studying violin at age 4 under her father’s guidance. Five years later, she was accepted to the prestigious Shanghai Conservatory. In 2001, she came to the US to study with Lucie Robert at Mannes College of Music on a full scholarship and continued her studies for a master’s degree at The Juilliard School with Robert Mann. She has performed in master classes held by renowned violinists such as Ruggiero Ricci, Midori Goto, Cho-Liang Lin and Pamela Frank.

Mingzhao has won a variety of awards, including first prize of the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Young Artist Competition, first prize of Mannes Violin Concerto Competition, and third prize of the Bergen Philharmonic Concerto Competition. Since her solo debut performing Mozart Violin Concerto No. 4 and Bach Violin Concerto in A Minor with the Sichuan Youth Orchestra of China at age 8, she has performed actively in chamber music and has appeared as soloist with Texas Music Festival Orchestra, Mannes Orchestra, California Chamber Orchestra and Camerata New York Orchestra. She has participated in music festivals such as Verbier Festival Youth Orchestra in Switzerland, Music Academy of the West in California and Texas Music Festival.

Before joining DSO, Mingzhao served as a violinist in the San Diego Symphony and Albany Symphony Orchestra.

Han Zheng was born in Guangdong Shantou, China, where he was raised in a home often filled with the sounds of classical music. His father, Goumin, was a professional violinist who performed with local ensembles. He became Han’s first music teacher.

Han’s father saw promise in his young son and sent him to Guangzhou, China, at age 12 to study music with violinist Dong He of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra. At 14, Han entered the Guangzhou Conservatory of Music, where he took up the viola simply because the school needed a violist. He later continued his viola studies at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. In 1988, Han enrolled in the Central Conservatory of Music in the former Inner City of Beijing.

While a student at the conservatory, Zheng was appointed Principal Viola of the China Youth Symphony Orchestra. He performed with the orchestra throughout China, as well as in Indonesia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It was with the youth symphony that Han made his solo debut. In 1992, he joined the China National Symphony Orchestra, which was sanctioned by the Ministry of Culture as the nation’s primary symphony orchestra.

In 1997, Han came to the United States to further his music career. The following year, he entered the Music Conservatory at Roosevelt University’s College of Performing Arts in Chicago. Soon after, Han auditioned for and won the position of Principal Viola with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra. In the 1999-2000 season, Han began substituting with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. When a viola position with the DSO opened up, he auditioned and won the seat in September 2001. He and his wife, Xuan Yang, a flutist he met in Beijing, moved to Detroit shortly after he won the DSO audition. In his spare time, he enjoys home decorating, gardening and spending time with his wife and son, Caleb.

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

David 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.

David 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 David included serving as Principal Cellist with the Baton Rouge (LA) Symphony, the Mississippi Gulf Coast Symphony and the Louisiana Sinfonietta.

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