Dakota String Quartet

Beginning in 1978, the Dakota String Quartet presented concerts and workshops throughout a five-state region, making strings “a natural resource” for our state. The diverse backgrounds of the Dakota String Quartet magically meld and create a superior ensemble. The majority of the ensemble’s time is spent on tour, performing at concert halls, colleges, community centers and public schools. Through their individual roles as string principals in the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, they bring music enrichment and leadership to people of all ages.

Doosook Kim has been Concertmaster with the SDSO  and the first violinist of the Dakota String Quartet since 1995. Kim, a native of Korea, started her musical training by beginning to play the piano at the age of four and the violin at seven. Dr. Kim was invited to join the Orchestre des Régions Européennes and performed in Germany and France, and she regularly travels to Korea to perform and teach.  She maintains a highly successful teaching studio in violin performance.  Kim plays a Francesco Ruggeri violin dated from 1686 in Cremona.

Magdalena Modzelewska has been the SDSO’s Principal Violin II since 1998. A native of Poland, she enjoyed an extensive solo and chamber music career in Europe performing in Poland, Germany, England, France, and Switzerland before moving to the United States. She is a founding member of “Maggie in the Meantime,” a Celtic band, and “Flower and Flame,” an original project that combines storytelling and music.  A certified Suzuki instructor and a faculty member at Augustana University, she is also a dedicated and passionate teacher.

Yi-Chun Lin, a native of Taipei, Taiwan, violinist, violist, and pianist, Dr. Yi-Chun Lin has served as the concertmaster and viola principal of orchestras in New York, Taiwan, and music festivals worldwide.  She has performed as soloist with the Texas Music Festival Orchestra, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan, and the Akademisches Orchester at the Gewandhaus concert hall in Leipzig.  As the principal violist at the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra and as the founder of Sioux Falls Chamber Music Collective, she is also a passionate music educator and chamber musician.

Cellist Robert Erhard was appointed Principal Cello in 2020 after a season with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra as Acting Principal Cello. Erhard holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Colorado Boulder where he studied with Judith Glyde and Thomas Heinrich, and holds a Master of Music from Eastman School of Music.