Lyndie Walker, MT-BC, is the Owner and a Board-Certified Music Therapist at Toneworks Music Therapy Services, LLC. She received a double Bachelor’s degree in Music Performance and Music Therapy from the University of Minnesota. Lyndie works as both a music therapist and adaptive lesson teacher with individuals of all ages and abilities in both group and individual settings. She frequently presents on topics such as music therapy and community experiences, building inclusive music environments in public schools, and collaborative experiences with women-owned small businesses.  

As an avid supporter of neurodiversity and self-advocates, she hosts Sensory Friendly Atrium Concerts with the Minnesota Orchestra, and directs “Art for All” an inclusive summer art and music camp.

Joanne Opgenorth joined the Orchestra’s first violin section in 2002, after serving seven seasons as a first violinist in the Washington National Opera Orchestra in Washington, D.C. She has collaborated with Orchestra musicians and guest artists, playing chamber music in the Minnesota Orchestra Chamber Music, Nightcap and Sommerfest series, and in KinderKonzerts and Common Chords outreach chamber music concerts. 

Violinist Emily Switzer is a 2019 graduate of the Yale School of Music and 2017 graduate of Yale University. Former co-concertmaster of the Yale Symphony Orchestra, she is a winner of the 2015 Friends of Music Recital Competition, the 2016 William Waite Competition and a recipient of the 2016 Sharp Prize for Music. She has performed with numerous orchestras including the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Lakewood Symphony, Denver Philharmonic, Littleton Symphony and Yale Symphony Orchestra. In January 2022, she performed with the Yale Philharmonia as a winner of the 2019 Woolsey Concerto Competition. Switzer joined the second violin section of the Minnesota Orchestra in September 2019.

Violist Sarah Switzer joined the Minnesota Orchestra in September 2022 and served as acting assistant principal viola for the Orchestra’s 2023-24 season. She earned her master’s degree from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music as a student of Ivo-Jan van der Werff. She holds a bachelor’s degree in the History of Art from Yale University, where she studied with Wendy Sharp. Recipient of the Yale Wrexham Prize for Music, the T. Whitney Blake Prize and the Sharp Prize for Music, Switzer served as principal viola of the Yale Symphony Orchestra and performed Béla Bartók’s Viola Concerto with the symphony orchestra in 2018 as a winner of the William Waite Concerto Competition. Her undergraduate thesis on French medieval manuscript illumination earned her the A. Conger Goodyear Fine Arts Award in 2019.