Dallas Symphony Orchestra Hires New Musicians

Five musicians will begin their appointments in the orchestra as of the 2023/24 concert season

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO) and its music director Fabio Luisi have welcomed five new musicians — some of whom have started their tenures, while others will start in September 2023.

“I am thrilled to welcome these new musicians to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and to our musical family,” said Luisi. “I look forward to getting to know them and working together to build our unique DSO sound.”

Daniel Hawkins has been appointed principal horn; Sarah Sung will be associate principal viola (third chair); Robert O’Brien will be assistant principal timpani/section percussion; Jimin Lim will join the second violins; and Caleb Quillen will join the bass section.

Since 2017, Hawkins has been the Utility Horn player with the San Francisco Symphony, where he became associate principal horn in 2019. His accolades include the top prize of the 2022 International Horn Competition of America, plus awards at the 2014 Music Teacher’s National Association Young Artist Competition, and the Meadows School of the Arts Concerto Competition.

An Australian-Korean violist, Sung is the first-prize winner of Chicago’s 2023 Musicians Club of Women Competition. She has performed with Itzhak Perlman, Marcy Rosen, Roger Tapping, and Vivian Weilerstein, among others, and has been a guest violist with the Jupiter Chamber Players, Minnesota Orchestra, and Delirium Chamber Orchestra, and has been principal viola of the Juilliard Orchestra. A recently graduated doctorate student, she is also the cofounder of VISION Collective.

O’Brien began his position at the DSO in January 2023. Previously, he was principal percussion of the Omaha Symphony for four seasons and spent one season as a member of the Houston Ballet Orchestra. A Global Academy Fellow with the New York Philharmonic, he has performed with the Fort Worth Symphony, Oregon Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, and Hawaii Symphony. He has also held fellowships at the National Repertory Orchestra and the Tanglewood Music Center.

Lim joined the DSO this season. A member of the Nashville Symphony since 2017, she was its acting associate principal second violin this past season. She has performed solo with the Busan Philharmonic Orchestra, Busan Symphony Orchestra, Moldova National Symphony Orchestra, and the Conductors Orchestra at Indiana University. Her accolades top prizes at the Kloster Schontal International Violin Competition, Hankook-Ilbo Competition, Korea Germany Brahms Competition, and the Korean Chamber Orchestra competition.

Joining the DSO bass section this fall, Quillen was a member of the Kansas City Symphony for seven seasons. He has also performed with the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Houston Symphony and the New York Philharmonic. He was a Tanglewood Fellow in both 2015 and 2016. 

For more on each of the new musicians, click here.