Hannah Hammel Maser

DSO Affiliate Faculty, Flute

Hannah Hammel Maser joined the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as Principal Flute in January 2020 and the Oakland University Flute Faculty in September 2026. 

Before joining the DSO, Hannah held the position of Principal Flute of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra from 2017–2019. Hannah has performed as guest Principal Flute with the Chicago Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Toronto Symphony, and Baltimore Symphony, and also as a guest in the sections of the New York Philharmonic, Fort Worth Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, Richmond Symphony, and the Cleveland Orchestra, including as a guest with them on a tour to Austria. Hannah has attended summer festivals including Tanglewood Music Center, Music Academy of the West, Pacific Music Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, and Round Top Music Festival. 

Hannah taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music from 2024-2026 as a member of the Flute and Chamber Music Faculty and presently serves on the CIM Faculty as a mentor to the Robinson Orchestral Career Fellows. Additionally, she served as acting Assistant Professor of Flute at Michigan State University during the spring semester of 2023. Hannah is a sought-after teacher and orchestral excerpt coach and in addition to teaching privately, she has been invited to teach for the New World Symphony, Oberlin Conservatory, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, University of North Texas, University of Alabama, University of Michigan, and Interlochen Arts Academy.

Hannah regularly coaches flutists through the Sphinx Organization and was a coach for Sphinx's 2022 Audition Intensive. She served on the faculty for the 2026 Equity Arc Conference in Washington, D.C. Hannah is enthusiastically involved in DSO community engagement performances and educational outreach programs, including regularly working with youth orchestra members of the Civic Youth Ensembles, adult flutists in the Detroit Community Ensembles, and participants of the Gesher Human Resources’ Creative Expressions Program.

Hannah has been featured as a soloist with the DSO on numerous occasions, including performances of Carl Reinecke's Flute Concerto, Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 and No. 4, and a world premiere of Jeff Scott's Paradise Valley Serenade for wind quintet and orchestra. As a student, Hannah won first prize in the National Flute Association's Young Artist Competition, with special distinction given for the Best Performance of the Newly Commissioned Piece, and the Orchestral Excerpt & Masterclass Competition. She also won first prize in the Houston Flute Club Byron Hester Competition, the Atlanta Flute Association Young Artist Competition, the Central Ohio Flute Association Collegiate Division Competition and second prize in the Mid-South Flute Society Young Artist Competition. An active chamber musician, she frequently curates and performs recitals with her DSO colleagues and has performed with chamber music organizations including Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings and New Music Detroit. 

A native of Richmond, Virginia, Hannah began studying the flute with her mother, Alice Hammel. She holds a Bachelor of Music in flute performance and a minor in music theory from the Oberlin Conservatory (2015) where she studied with Alexa Still. She graduated with a Master of Music in flute performance in 2017 from Rice University's Shepherd School of Music as a student of Leone Buyse. 

Hannah plays on an 18K gold Muramatsu flute and a Keefe piccolo. She lives in Huntington Woods with her husband, Ian, their daughter, Ava, and their labradoodle, Cooper.