Martha McDermott, Violin

Martha is an active performer in the Twin Cities. She received her Bachelor's Degree from Hamline University in Music Performance where she studied with Ginna Watson and Yali You. She has studied historic performance and performed as part of the Twin Cities Early Music Festival. She also performed as a soloist with the Hamline Orchestra on multiple occasions. Martha is a member of Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and Saint Paul Civic Symphony. She is a student of Minnesota Orchestra Violinist Michael Sutton

Martha can often be found MC’ing Boom Island String Quartet’s performances or scheming the next program. Martha’s favorite pieces to play with BISQ are George Gershwin’s Lullaby and The Beatles’s Here, There, & Everywhere

Martha enjoys spending her free time with her 2 cats, learning the banjo, and serving on the board of The Wildwood Theatre ​

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Maya Lehmann, Violin

Maya has loved playing the violin ever since she was young. She received her BA in Music from St. Olaf College where she studied violin with Charles Gray. During her time at St. Olaf, Maya played in the renowned St. Olaf Orchestra, participating in various tours around the world. She also spent much of her time at St. Olaf focusing on the intersections of music, race, and culture. 

Maya is the newest member of the Boom Island String Quartet and is happy to have the opportunity to play everything from Bach to Britney! She also performs in various other capacities around the Twin Cities. 

Alex Mueller, Viola

Alexandria Mueller is an award-winning composer based in the Twin Cities. She has worked with composer Guy Michelmore (Marvel, Disney, BBC) on projects through ThinkSpace Productions (U.K.) and currently works with LA-based composer Julia Zuzanna Sokolowska through Illuminating Music (illuminating-music.com).

Alex studied film scoring at Berklee College of Music and the Seattle Film Institute. A student of many styles, her repertoire includes everything from subtle strings and minimalist piano, to moody synth and bombastic orchestral scores. She has also composed concert music extensively for orchestra, wind band and choir and has had works performed by Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra and the American Suzuki Institute.

Alex was a soloist with Hamline University Orchestra in 2016 and performs with the Saint Paul Civic Symphony and the Boom Island String Quartet, as well as for recording sessions. A multi-instrumentalist, Alex often performs on her own scores, and has a keen interest in building instruments, experimental performance techniques and designing customized sounds to augment the sonic pallet. Her custom sounds have been used by composers all over the world.