I joined Local 802 when I won an audition to play the Christmas Spectacular show with the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra. Before the quarantine, my gig was serving as concertmaster of the North American tour of “Aladdin.” I earned my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in violin from the New England Conservatory of Music and played at Tanglewood and other festivals. I fell in love with Broadway and theatre music after a month of playing “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine. Music transported me from a lot of emotional, social and psychological chaos as a kid. I learned I could create beauty in the face of ugliness and obstacles. As an adult, music is important to me because it has the power to create connections across barriers otherwise unquestioned. For me, it’s all about a dynamic energy exchange. The quarantine has gifted me the wonderful opportunity of spending a lot of quality time with my parents in Utah, something my hectic touring schedule has kept me from doing in the last few years. It’s also given me the time and space to produce my debut crossover album with Ben Noyes as the production team NOYES HUNTER, which we hope to have finished by the end of the summer.

— JD Hunter
qweenjd@gmail.com