Connor Chaikowsky

Connor Chaikowsky joined the Detroit Symphony Orchestra violin section in the fall of 2025. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, he was a member of the Peabody Preparatory and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in violin performance from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he studied with Paul Kantor.

Before joining the DSO, Chaikowsky spent two seasons with the New World Symphony, serving as concertmaster for several programs, including Strauss’s Four Last Songs and Michael Tilson Thomas’s final performance with the orchestra. He has performed with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra and spends his summers at the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson, Wyoming and Sun Valley Music Festival in Idaho.

Chaikowsky has participated in programs such as the New York String Orchestra, YoungArts Miami, Tanglewood Music Center, and the Verbier Festival, where he was awarded the Prix d’APCAV for “embodying the spirit of the festival.”

In 2021, he created and performed Le Boeuf en Concert, a multidisciplinary video concert inspired by the history and influences of Milhaud’s Le Boeuf sur le Toit, which was featured in the Houston Chronicle.

Outside of music, Chaikowsky enjoys running, cycling, and cooking.