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 ​

​

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. 

Alexandria Mueller, Viola

Alexandria Mueller is a composer and arranger based in the Twin Cities. Alex began composing music as an elementary school student, and later studied with Charles Rochester Young at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point. She earned an MFA in Composition and Orchestration from the University of Chichester and studied film scoring at Berklee College of Music and the Seattle Film Institute. She has composed extensively for chamber groups, orchestra, wind band and choir and frequently arranges music for string quartet.

Alex is a multi-instrumentalist and active performer. She was a soloist with Hamline University Orchestra in 2016 and performs with the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Saint Paul Civic Symphony and the Boom Island String Quartet on viola.

Alex is currently on the board of the Able Artist Foundation, and previously served on the board of the Minnesota Music Coalition. She is the Associate Director for the Very Young Composers Project in central Wisconsin, a program that invites 4th and 5th grade students to compose original music.