Violist DANA HANSEN is a Massachusetts native. She began violin studies at the age of five and viola at the age of fifteen. After graduating from Harvard College with a cum laude degree in Modern European History, she attended the Juilliard School, where she received her Master’s degree in 2003. In Boston, she studied viola and chamber music with James Dunham and Robert Levin. At Juilliard, she studied with Misha Amory and Heidi Castleman. During summers, she attended the Aspen, Taos, and Tanglewood music festivals. She was a member of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra before joining the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2004.

She and her husband have two daughters and a third on the way.