Meet Michelle Di Russo
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A graceful and powerful force on the podium, Argentinian-Italian conductor Michelle Di Russo is known for her compelling interpretations, passionate musicality, and championing of contemporary music. Recently appointed Assistant Conductor of North Carolina Symphony and Interim Director of Orchestras at Cornell University, she is a Fellow in both Chicago Sinfonietta’s prestigious Project Inclusion Conducting Freeman Fellowship program and The Dallas Opera Hart Institute.
Past performance highlights include serving as Assistant Conductor for Prague Summer Nights Festival in productions of Le Nozze di Figaro and Die Zauberflöte in the Czech Republic; leading the state premiere of Annika Socolofsky’s Gaze at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music; leading the premiere of Carlos Simon’s This Land at Arizona’s Gammage Memorial Auditorium’s “Beyond the Concert Series” and engagements with the United States Pershing’s Own Army Band. A native of Argentina, Ms. Di Russo holds a Doctoral Degree in Orchestral Conducting from Arizona State University and a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Kentucky. She completed her degree in Orchestral Conducting and Music Production of Audiovisual Media from the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina, where she was awarded an Ad-Hoc Diploma for the highest grade in Orchestral Conducting. She is a recipient of a 20-21 American Austrian Foundation Faber Young Conductors Fellowship attending the Salzburg Festival, a Bruno Walter Memorial Foundation Conducting Fellowship, and a Fellowship with Cortona Sessions for New Music in Italy. Former posts include serving as Assistant Conductor for the Phoenix Youth Symphony Orchestra and as cover conductor and assistant for The Phoenix Symphony and Arizona Musicfest.
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