Wei Yu was appointed Principal Cello of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra by Music Director Laureate Leonard Slatkin in 2014. He made his solo debut performing Dvořák's Cello Concerto and has appeared as soloist with the DSO every season since. Before joining the DSO, Yu was a member of the New York Philharmonic for seven seasons.

Yu was a prizewinner at the Hudson Valley Philharmonic String Competition, the Holland American Music Society Cello Competition, the Music Teachers National Association Competition (MTNA National Collegiate Strings), Canada’s National Music Festival, Calgary’s Kiwanis Festival, and China’s National Cello competitions.

An avid chamber musician, Yu has been invited to the Marlboro, Ravinia, Great Lakes Chamber Music, and Mainly Mozart music festivals. Wei has collaborated with musicians including cellist Carter Brey and David Soyer; pianists Richard Goode and Menahem Pressler; violinists Augustin Hadelich, Midori, and Pinchas Zukerman; and members of the Guarneri, Emerson, and Juilliard Quartets. As a member of the New York Philharmonic ensembles, he made regular appearances at Merkin Concert Hall.

A successful instructor, Yu serves as a faculty member at the Northwestern University Bienen School Of Music. He has given cello masterclasses at universities and festivals in the United States, Canada, Poland, and China. During the summer, Yu teaches at the Morningside Music Bridge International Music Festival in Calgary, Canada; Carnegie Hall's National Youth Orchestra, and the Center Stage Strings Summer Institute at the University of Michigan.

Born in Shanghai, China, Yu began studying the cello at age four and made his concerto debut at age 11, performing Elgar’s Cello Concerto with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. He received a Bachelor of Music from North Park University in Chicago and a Master of Music from The Juilliard School. His principal teachers include Mei-Juan Liu, John Kadz, Hans Jørgen Jensen, and David Soyer.

Kimberly Ann Kaloyanides Kennedy won her coveted position as a violinist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at the age of 22. In 2003, Kennedy further realized her dream when she became Associate Concertmaster. 

Kennedy began her study of the violin at the age of 5 in Dayton, OH. Being the daughter of a Minister of Music and church organist allowed her many chances to share from her heart in front of congregations. Her love of music became what undoubtedly would be her career as she pursued her studies at Brevard Music Center and Interlochen Arts Camp as the Governor’s Scholar for the state of Ohio. She continued her studies at the Sarasota Music Festival; spent four summers at the Aspen Music Festival on fellowship as Associate Concertmaster of the Chamber Orchestra; spent three years at the Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida with Sergiu Schwartz; and finally landed at the University of Michigan with Paul Kantor. It was halfway through her senior year at Michigan in 1998 that her hard work paid off, when she joined the first violin section of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. 

Throughout her training, she won several prizes in competitions around the country, including the Grand Prize in the National MTNA competition and first prize in the Greek Women’s National Competition in Chicago; the Skokie Valley Concerto Competition, where she performed Barber's Violin Concerto; the University of Michigan Concerto Competition, where she performed Ravel’s Tzigane; and the Harid Conservatory Concerto Competition, where she performed Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. Kennedy was one of the few Americans invited to the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis in 1998. She solos regularly with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. 

Kennedy enjoys performing chamber music regularly around Michigan with various groups including the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings and on series such as Chamber Music North, Fairlane Concert Guild, Pro Mozart, Classical Brunch in Birmingham, and the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival. 

Kennedy is passionate about serving others through her music, both at church and around the community. She loves teaching and sharing what God has put in her heart with her students. Kennedy and her husband Bryan Kennedy, fourth horn of the DSO, are strongly committed to this orchestra and to this region. They believe in the future of this great organization and intend to work diligently to ensure that it remains the internationally renowned and artistically revered Detroit Symphony Orchestra. 

Kennedy and Bryan live in Plymouth with their two beautiful children, Ethan and Lauren, as well as their two dogs, cat, hamsters, fish, and bunny. 

Violist Eric Nowlin has performed extensively throughout the United States as well as abroad. Nowlin's performance of Berlioz’s Harold in Italy with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra was described by Classical Source as "outstanding…his distinctive timbre and sovereign musicianship at one with Slatkin’s perfectly paced account…totally compelling."

Past accomplishments include receiving second prize in the prestigious Walter W. Naumburg Competition, first prize in the Irving Klein International String Competition; first prize in the Hellam Young Artists Competition; grand prize in the Naftzger Young Artists Competition; and winner of the Juilliard Viola Concerto Competition. Performances have included solo engagements with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Springfield Symphony in Missouri, the Santa Cruz Symphony, the Peninsula Symphony, and the Kumamoto Symphony in Japan, as well as recitals in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto, and Mexico.

Nowlin is the violist of the Juno and Opus Award-winning New Orford String Quartet. Other chamber music activities have included participating in festivals such as the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont and the Steans Institute for Young Artists at Ravinia. He was a regular member of the Jupiter Chamber Players in New York City and toured with Musicians from Marlboro and Musicians from Ravinia’s Steans Institute. Nowlin was previously the Associate Principal Viola in the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and has served as Guest Principal Viola with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Metropolis Ensemble, and Cleveland’s Citymusic, as well as substitute viola with the New York Philharmonic.

Nowlin is the Assistant Professor of Viola at Michigan State University and has previously been an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Music as well as Instructor of Viola at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Ontario. He spends time during the summer months teaching and performing at numerous music festivals in the United States and Canada.

Nowlin received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School as a scholarship student of Samuel Rhodes. Nowlin plays on a 1757 J.B. Guadagnini viola on generous loan from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, as well as a viola from 1910 made by Giovanni Pistucci and a viola made by Sam Zygmuntowicz made in 2019.

Daring, versatile, and charismatic, American violinist Robyn Bollinger is the newly appointed Concertmaster of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Equally at home as soloist, chamber musician, orchestral leader, and pedagogue, Bollinger is an artist at the forefront of classical music. Having made her Philadelphia Orchestra debut at age 12, she regularly performs with orchestras across the United States. Past highlights include engagements with the Boston Pops and the symphony orchestras of Brevard, California, Charleston, Grand Tetons Music Festival, Helena, Illinois, Indian Hill, Knoxville, and Symphony in C. In 2019, Bollinger gave the world premiere of Artifacts, a four-movement violin concerto commissioned by the California Symphony by composer Katherine Balch and written specifically for Bollinger.

A sought-after collaborator and recitalist, Bollinger is a popular figure on chamber music stages around the world. She is a returning participant at the acclaimed Marlboro Music Festival and has been featured in numerous national tours with Musicians from Marlboro. She has toured in Midori’s Music Sharing International Community Engagement Program “ICEP” in Japan, performing in recital in Osaka’s Phoenix Hall, Tokyo’s Oji Hall, and Tokyo National Arts Center. A prizewinner at the 2007 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, Bollinger has appeared at the chamber music festivals of Halcyon, Highlands-Cashiers, Lake Champlain, Monadnock, and Orcas Island. She has presented recitals at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, National Sawdust, Emory University, Kalliroscope Gallery, Live from Indian Hill, the California Symphony, and more. She appears regularly with the Chameleon Arts Ensemble in Boston, the Boston Chamber Music Society, Mistral Music, Spruce Peak Chamber Music Society, and Glissando Music, among others. 

Bollinger has been recognized for both her innovation and entrepreneurship. She received a prestigious Fellowship from the Lenore Annenberg Arts Fellowship Fund for her multimedia performance project, “CIACCONA: The Bass of Time,” later releasing a commercial CD and DVD of the project and presenting a national tour of the program. An examination of the history and legacy of the Bach’s famed chaconne for solo violin, the program received critical acclaim from The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and the San Francisco Chronicle, among others. Bollinger has also been recognized with an Entrepreneurial Musicianship Grant from New England Conservatory for her ground-breaking “Project Paganini,” a performance project featuring the twenty-four Caprices of Paganini. She was recently awarded a historic Early-Career Musician Fellowship from Dumbarton Oaks Museum in Washington, DC, to research and prepare her next multimedia project, “Encore! Just One More,” to be debuted in future seasons. 

A noted leader and ensemble player, Bollinger has been a frequent Guest Concertmaster with the Pittsburgh Symphony and has made Guest Concertmaster appearances with the Indianapolis Symphony and St. Bart’s Music Festival Orchestra. She is a former member of A Far Cry, the Boston-based, democratically run chamber orchestra, and she has appeared on commercial recordings with both the Pittsburgh Symphony and A Far Cry, all of which were nominated for Grammy Awards.

Bollinger is a devoted educator, having presented masterclasses at the Cincinnati Conservatory, the Longy School of music, University of California Bakersfield, Temple University Preparatory School, and a unique masterclass examining classical music in the context of Aristotle at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga. She is a former faculty member at New England Conservatory Preparatory School in Boston and Brandeis University. She earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees with academic honors from the New England Conservatory of Music. Her major teachers included Soovin Kim, Miriam Fried, Paul Biss, Paul Kantor, and Lyle Davidson. Bollinger currently plays on a 1697 G. B. Rogeri violin on generous loan from a private collector and a 2013 Benoit Rolland bow commissioned specially for her.