Ariana Kim is a regular host and writer of This Is Minnesota Orchestra, the Emmy Award-winning Twin Cities PBS broadcast and online livestream series. A Grammy-nominated violinist, Kim made her New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall during her doctoral studies at Juilliard and is now a tenured violin professor at Cornell University. At 16, she made her debut with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and at 24 she was appointed acting concertmaster of the Louisiana Philharmonic. Recent performance highlights include an artist residency at the Minneapolis Institute of Art exploring solo violin music in total darkness, a recital at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., and a Bartók concerto performance at Jordan Hall in Boston. Following six months living in India studying Carnatic music, she recorded a new album released in May 2026, (un)common thread, exploring improvisation from Mozart to Macedonia with fortepianist Roger Moseley and percussionist Shane Shanahan.

William Eddins has a multi-faceted musical career as a conductor and pianist. He is the music director emeritus of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, a former associate conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra and a frequent guest conductor of major orchestras throughout the world. In September 2022 he led the Orchestra’s season opening concerts in a program that included the Minnesota premiere of Wynton Marsalis’ Swing Symphony, performed with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

Sarah Hicks is the Minnesota Orchestra’s principal conductor of Live at Orchestra Hall, a role in which she oversees planning for and conducts many concerts in the broad-spectrum series of popular music, jazz, Broadway classics, movie scores and other genres. She also conducted the Inside the Classics and Sam & Sarah series for ten seasons.