Musician profiles are in alphabetical order.

Noteworthy: Two recordings on Albany Records with the Ad Hoc String Quartet; two Madison Music Collective albums; performed live on the Internet; teach jazz appreciation at a prison. Funniest concert moment: Trio hired to play at a party for a child...Amy Irving answered the door; the party was for Steven Spielberg & their son. What her colleagues don't know: In high school was thought of as jazz sax player, so at my reunion, everyone was disappointed to hear that I had become a professional musician as a violist!

Noteworthy: B.A. in Music Performance, UW-Madison; M.M. in Music Performance, Carnegie-Mellon University. Funniest concert experience: At a performance of Dialogues of the Carmelites, we had a technical issue at the moment where the nuns are led to the guillotine; the recorded "whoosh" started chopping away and we beheaded many additional nuns before someone finally pulled the plug! What your colleagues don't know about you: I played guitar in a high school band. Our only strategy at our first gig was to play so loudly that perhaps nobody would notice how awful we were. We were paid $50, split three ways. We thought we were going places.

Noteworthy: Degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the University of North Carolina-Greensboro; elementary orchestra teacher in the New Berlin Public schools. Oddest practice quarters: An old house in North Carolina where stairs creaked and doors slammed when I was the only person there. Funniest concert experience: Playing a holiday orchestra concert on an ice rink with the hometown hockey team skating around us. What your colleagues don't know about you: I am an avid sea kayaker, hiker and cook. I am also handy with a belt sander. Recurrent musical fantasy:To wake up one morning a virtuosic soprano.

Noteworthy: B.A. Music, Smith College; M.M. Viola Performance, Indiana University; two years at the Mannes College of Music in NYC and one year at University of Hamburg, Germany; married for 16 years; two lovely daughters who both study piano and violin; MSO member since 2003. Funniest concert experience: I played at a wedding where the groom turned green, swayed, clutched the bride, and left the church. The first violinist turned to us calmly and said, "Let's play some more prelude music," which we did for several long minutes while the congregation murmured. After a while, the groom came back and completed his vows. What your colleagues don't know about you: I was told at age 21 by a NYC modeling scout that I could be a successful runway model if I gave up my viola and my boyfriend Bill. Hardly! Decades later, I'm happily married to Bill, I have a successful career playing my viola, and I got to model for the MSO violist and award-winning photographer Katrin Talbot.

Noteworthy: B.A., Kent State University; M.M., Rice University; Founding member, Euclid Quartet; 2000 Grand Prize, Carmel Chamber Music Competition; 1998 Third Prize, National Society of Arts and Letters String Quartet Competition. Funniest concert experience: The time I managed to get myself stuck in a backstage bathroom before a quartet recital; an audience member came to my rescue. Recurrent musical fantasy: I am living my musical fantasy. If I were John DeMain for a day: I would take the viola section out for drinks and dessert at Cocoliquot after their stellar performance of Brahms's Serenade No. 2 in which the violins were conspicuously absent.

Danny Kim is currently pursuing a BA in Music Performance as well as a certificate in East Asian studies at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. He has been apart of the Madison Symphony viola section since the 2007 season. Scholarships and awards he has received include the UW School of Music Alumni Association scholarship, Perlman scholarship, Aspen music festival orchestral string fellowship and won the 2009-2010 UW School of Music concerto competition on the Walton viola concerto.

I got my start in music in a public school strings program and received my B.M. for the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. I spent a semester studying in Vienna and Salzburg, and I'm currently working on my M.M. at the UW-Madison where I'm a Collins Distinguished Fellow. When I'm not in the classical mood, I play viola with Madison's indie-rock group Pale Young Gentlemen. My scariest rehearsal experience was the time a conductor managed to stab himself with his baton, saying merely, "Someone call an ambulance. Let's start at rehearsal letter E."

Noteworthy: B.A. Augustana College; M.M. Northwestern University; Eckstein Fellowship (NU); Civic Orchestra of Chicago; University Fellowship, UW-Madison; member of the MSO's Hunt Quartet. Oddest practice quarters: I taught and practiced in a high school bathroom for a year (during renovation). What your colleagues don't know about you: I worked on an organic farm last summer. If I were John DeMain for a day: I'd get the MSO to hire a composer-in-residence and program Hovhaness's And God Created Great Whales for humpbacked whale solo (on tape) and orchestra.

Noteworthy: B.A., Reed College; M.S. in Molecular Biology, UW-Madison. Guest artist with the Pro Arte and Monte Verde Quartets; violist in Boulder Bach Festival and American Sinfonietta. Published photographer (Schubert's Winterreise, published by UW Press); photography has appeared in The New York Times, NYC galleries and in various MSO publications/merchandise. Funniest concert experience: Locking bows with a giggling stand partner who had played an opposite bowing. What your colleagues don't know about you: I was born in Australia. I swim across Lake Mendota on occasion, have run a marathon and played rhythm guitar and violin in a science-nerd rock band in college. Recurrent musical fantasy: To belt out a luscious Wagnerian mezzo role, or play a Bach Suite to someone who's never heard a viola or of Bach.

Noteworthy: B.A. Furman University; M.M. Northwestern; D.M.A. in Viola Performance, University of Iowa. Member of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Con Vivo chamber ensemble and an instructor with the Suzuki Strings of Madison. Oddest practice quarters: A room in a German castle overlooking a rather beautiful cemetery. Funniest concert experience: When the organist didn't show for a friend's wedding, in addition to my planned solo, I had to come up with music for the entire ceremony. The guests had a perfect view of my two big black eyes from being hit in the nose by a softball days earlier. What your colleagues don't know about you: I was the Florida State Junior Fiddling Champion for two consecutive years.