David Halen, concertmaster of the St. Louis Symphony (SLS), is professor of violin in the Department of Strings. Halen earned a BM from Central Missouri State University and an MM from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he studied with the late Sergiu Luca. He joined the SLS in 1991 and was named concertmaster in September 1995, serving under music directors Leonard Slatkin, the late Hans Vonk and, currently, David Robertson. He has soloed with the orchestra in many of the major concerti in the violin repertoire and has also soloed with the Houston, San Francisco and West German Radio (Cologne) Symphonies. Prior to joining the SLS, Halen was assistant concertmaster with the Houston Symphony Orchestra.