Originally from Washington, D.C., Sabrina Bradford trained under esteemed teachers such as Carolyn Huebl, Stephen Rose and Paul Kantor, and received degrees from Vanderbilt University and the Cleveland Institute of Music. Her professional career began during her undergraduate studies when she performed frequently with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. Since then, she has been a regular guest with the Cleveland Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Kansas City Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Sphinx Virtuosi.

Roma Duncan, who joined the Minnesota Orchestra in 2003, performed Vivaldi’s Piccolo Concerto in C major at Sommerfest 2005 and reprised the work in 2007 at subscription concerts conducted by Gilbert Varga. In 2019, she performed the same work in Orchestra concerts with conductor Jane Glover. She has held numerous roles in recent Young People's Concerts, hosting concerts in 2018, performing as a soloist in Kling's The Elephant and the Fly in 2017, and serving as narrator in Kleinsinger’s Tubby the Tuba in 2011. In Sommerfest 2014 she joined Orchestra colleagues for a chamber concert performing Rossini’s Quartet for Flute, Clarinet, Bassoon and Horn.

Violist Lydia Grimes joined the Minnesota Orchestra in September 2022. A native Minnesotan, Grimes grew up as a violinist and began studying the viola at 16 under the instruction of Sabina Thatcher. She recently received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in viola performance from the Juilliard School, where she studied with Hsin-Yun Huang, Misha Amory and Cynthia Phelps.

Violinist Sarah Grimes joined the Minnesota Orchestra in 2016, where she is a member of the first violin section. Before her appointment in the Minnesota Orchestra, she performed as a full-time guest musician with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra from 2015-16, and as a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago in 2014.

Raised in the Twin Cities, Grimes began studying the violin at the age of four. She received a bachelor of music degree from the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, where she was concertmaster of the Symphony Orchestra, and worked as a freelance musician in the greater Chicago area.

Illinois native Sonia Mantell joined the Minnesota Orchestra cello section in September 2020, and in fall 2024 took on the role of acting co-associate principal cello as well as making her debut as soloist performing James MacMillan’s Kiss on Wood in March 2025.  She studied at New England Conservatory and DePaul School of Music under the tutelage of Natasha Brofksy and Brant Taylor, respectively.  While attending DePaul, she won the Concerto Competition with violinist Ari Urban and performed the Brahms Double Concerto with the DePaul Symphony.  She is a Civic Orchestra of Chicago Alumni (2014-16) and has attended summer festivals at Aspen, National Orchestral Institute, Music Academy of the West and Tanglewood Music Center.

Beth Rapier joined the Minnesota Orchestra in 1986 and served as assistant principal cello from 1991 until 2022, when she chose to move into the core of the cello section. She has been a featured soloist with the Orchestra in works by Haydn, David Ott and Kevin Puts, the latter being the world premiere of his Sinfonia concertante in 2006. Throughout her tenure, she has appeared regularly at the Orchestra’s chamber music concerts. During the 2013-14 season, she performed as a guest with the Dallas Symphony and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

Cellist Pitnarry Shin has toured throughout the United States, Europe and her native Korea. She has performed as soloist with the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) Symphony Orchestra, the Kunsan Philharmonic, the Yale Symphony Orchestra, the Springfield Symphony Orchestra and the Queens Symphony Orchestra. She has also appeared at many of the leading international festivals including the Ravinia Festival, the Edinburgh and Dartington Festivals (England), Colmar and Evian Festivals (France), Banff Festival (Canada) and the Piatigorsky Seminar. She was the recipient of a Fulbright Grant to Germany, which allowed her to participate and perform in several European festivals such as the Manchester Festival, the Kronberg Festival and the Ensemble InterContemporain Summer Festival, where she played solo cello under Pierre Boulez. 

Shin was a member of the Minnesota Orchestra from 2001 to 2006 and returned as a full time member again in 2012. In addition to her orchestral work, she serves as an artistic director of the Bakken Trio.

Dallas native Marlea Simpson joined the Minnesota Orchestra’s viola section in September 2022, and was appointed associate principal viola in February 2024. Hailed by the Chicago Tribune as “Grant Park Orchestra’s new 21-year-old wunderkind” in 2016, she most recently held the principal viola position with the Chicago Sinfonietta in addition to a section position with the Grant Park Orchestra after completing their Project Inclusion Program in 2014. Simpson has also performed as a substitute musician with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Sarasota Orchestra.

Alan Snow won the position of associate concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra in 2022. He was previously the second associate concertmaster with the Omaha Symphony. Since his first performance with the Oistrakh Symphony Orchestra at age 13, Snow has performed solo and chamber works internationally, including appearances at Chicago’s Symphony Center, London Symphony Orchestra St. Luke’s, Sala Manuel M. Ponce in Mexico City and others. Previous concertmaster appointments include the Evansville Philharmonic, Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Terre Haute Symphony, Festival Napa Valley Music Academy, Britten-Pears Young Artists Program, Indiana University’s top orchestras, Carmel Symphony and Music Academy of the West. In spring 2026, Snow will sit as guest concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel. He currently serves as concertmaster of the Colorado MahlerFest Orchestra as well as concertmaster and faculty at Birch Creek Summer Music Academy.

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.

Violist Megan Tam joined the Minnesota Orchestra in 2003, and returned to Minneapolis in 2015 after a year with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.

Tam studied violin and viola at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music. She completed undergraduate studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying under Robert Vernon and receiving the Robert Vernon Prize in Viola. In 2002 she and fellow members of the Linden Quartet won the grand prize at the Coleman Chamber Music Competition.

Houston-born cellist Erik Wheeler began his musical studies with Diane Bonds at age 5, and subsequently studied with Steve Laven, Lynn Harrell and Brinton Smith. He earned his undergraduate degree from Rice University, where his principal teacher was Desmond Hoebig, after which he spent a year at the Juilliard School with Richard Aaron. While at Rice, he performed Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the Shepherd School Chamber Orchestra as the winner of the school’s concerto competition and served as principal cellist for the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra. A member of the Minnesota Orchestra since 2019, he served as acting co-associate principal cello for the 2024-25 season. 

Gregory T. Williams joined the Minnesota Orchestra in 2006 as associate principal clarinet and E-flat clarinet, and he made his first solo appearances with the ensemble in 2007, performing Debussy’s Première rapsodie. In 2014 he was named acting principal clarinet. Williams has made numerous appearances in the Orchestra's chamber music series since joining the ensemble, including notable performances of Mozart’s Piano Quintet and Gran Partita Serenade, Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, the Schoenberg Wind Quintet and Villa-Lobos’ Trio for Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon.