Martin will also serve as Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Youth Orchestra
Detroit, (June 5, 2025) – The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) today announced the appointment of Australian-born conductor Ingrid Martin as its new Assistant Conductor and Phillip and Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador, to commence with the 2025–2026 season. Martin will also serve as Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Youth Orchestra, the premier youth orchestra of the DSO’s Civic Youth Ensembles. Martin succeeds Na’Zir McFadden in the role, who held the position from 2022 to 2025.
Ingrid Martin puts people at the heart of every musical moment. Drawing on her unique journey through medicine, teaching, and music, she leads with artistic excellence, empathy, and calm clarity. A frequent guest conductor across Australia and New Zealand, Martin’s concerts deepen audiences’ understanding and connection through sensitive conducting and engaging commentary. Before stepping onto the podium, she worked as an emergency doctor and then retrained as a teacher. Committed to education, she has built a global following through Conducting Artistry, sharing practical tools that empower music educators and conductors worldwide.
“I am very happy to welcome Ingrid Martin to the DSO as our new Assistant Conductor and Phillip and Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador,” said Music Director Jader Bignamini. “Ingrid brings a unique blend of energy, curiosity, and heartfelt connection to her music-making, and I know our musicians and audiences will feel that right away. I look forward to working together as she shares her artistry with our orchestra and community.”
“It’s a tremendous honor to join the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as Assistant Conductor and Phillip and Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador,” said Martin. “From the beginning, I felt a deep alignment with the DSO’s mission and values. I am inspired by the artistry of Music Director Jader Bignamini and the musicians here in Detroit, and excited to contribute to the city’s rich musical legacy.”
As Assistant Conductor and Phillip and Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador, Martin will work closely with Music Director Jader Bignamini and guest conductors on both the PVS Classical Series and the William Davidson Neighborhood Concert Series. In addition to providing valuable support during rehearsals, she will lead pre-concert lectures at Orchestra Hall and conduct a variety of programs on the Educational Concert Series, Young People’s Family Concert Series, and PNC Pops Series, as well as select programs throughout the community, including DTE Community Concerts.
Martin will also serve as Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Youth Orchestra (DSYO) under the DSO’s Civic Youth Ensembles (CYE). Founded in 1970, the DSYO is CYE’s premier youth orchestra. Through advanced orchestral repertoire, students are challenged to perform at professional levels, to strive for advanced musicianship, and to continue to enhance their superior technical and musical ensemble playing.
“Leading the Detroit Symphony Youth Orchestra is an incredible opportunity to support and challenge the next generation of students,” said Martin. “I believe in creating joyful, meaningful musical experiences that help young artists grow not only as players, but as people. I can’t wait to begin this journey with the talented students of the DSYO.”
About Ingrid Martin
Ingrid Martin puts people at the heart of every musical experience. Her work as a conductor and teacher is shaped by a career spanning music, medicine, and education.
In 2025, Martin joins the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as Assistant Conductor and Phillip and Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador. She also debuts with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Victoria, and leads the Louise Crossley Conductor Training Program for the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. She returns to conduct the Auckland Philharmonia, Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, following her 2024 tenure as New Zealand Assistant Conductor in Residence.
Martin loves championing new repertoire, and bringing audiences closer to music through thoughtfully curated experiences. She has commissioned 15 works for youth orchestras, conducted 20 world premieres, and recorded over 50 student compositions. Through her original orchestral shows, Martin invites audiences of all ages to explore unexpected connections between music and other disciplines, from physics to painting.
Martin was the first Australian admitted to the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship Mentoring Program (2024–2025). She was also a fellow of the Australian Conducting Academy (2023–2024) and the Carlos Miguel Prieto Conducting Fellowship with the Orchestra of the Americas (2022).
Before pursuing conducting professionally, Martin worked for a decade in emergency medicine then retrained as a teacher. Her approach to music and leadership is deeply informed by the skills she developed in these careers: listening closely, thinking clearly under pressure, and communicating complex ideas.
Martin has built a global following for Conducting Artistry, her platform for practical resources, podcasts, books, and online tools that empower teachers and students to deepen their artistry. She is a sought-after speaker and clinician at international music education conferences including the Midwest Clinic and Texas Music Educators’ Association and her book Planning Effective Rehearsals is required reading for university music education programs worldwide.
At home, she’s rarely far from a craft project and a strong black coffee.
About the DSO
The acclaimed Detroit Symphony Orchestra is known for trailblazing performances, collaborations with the world’s foremost musical artists, and a deep connection to its city. Led by Music Director Jader Bignamini since 2020, the DSO makes its home at historic Orchestra Hall within the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center, offering a robust performance schedule that features classical, pops, jazz, and family concerts, plus community performances. Enrico Lopez-Yañez was named Principal Pops Conductor in 2023, trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard serves as the orchestra’s Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair, and Tabita Berglund began her tenure as Principal Guest Conductor in the 2024–25 season. A dedication to broadcast innovation and technology began in 1922, when the DSO became the first orchestra in the world to present a live radio broadcast of a concert and continues today with the groundbreaking Live from Orchestra Hall series of free webcasts.
The DSO’s distinguished history of recordings—many led by its renowned music directors—spans nearly a century, beginning with the orchestra’s first 78 rpm singles with Ossip Gabrilowitsch released on the Victrola label in 1928. A steady recording output has continued since then, with highlights including more than 20 releases with Paul Paray for Mercury’s Living Presence series, and 27 under the baton of Neeme Järvi, mostly on the Chandos label. In the 1970s, the DSO took part in the historic Black Composers Series for Columbia Records led by its then-Associate Conductor Paul Freeman and later made several acclaimed recordings with Antal Doráti for the Decca label. More recently, under the direction of Leonard Slatkin, the DSO recorded music by Rachmaninoff, Copland, and John Williams for the Naxos label, earning its first GRAMMY® nomination in 2017 for Copland’s Third Symphony / Three Latin American Sketches. The first recording with Jader Bignamini, of Wynton Marsalis’s Blues Symphony, was released in March 2025 on the Pentatone label.
Since its first school concerts a century ago, and particularly since the founding of the Civic Youth Ensembles in 1970, the DSO has been a national leader in bringing the benefits of music education to students, teachers, and families in Detroit and surrounding communities. The DSO remains committed to expanding its participation in the growth and well-being of Detroit through programs like its Detroit Neighborhood Initiative—cultural events co-created with community partners and residents—and Detroit Harmony, a promise to provide an instrument and instruction to any student in the city who wants to learn. With unwavering support from the people of Detroit, the DSO actively pursues a mission to impact lives through the power of unforgettable musical experiences.