Michelle Di Russo, who received the AAF/Faber Young Conductors Fellowship in 2020, has been appointed music director of the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, the first woman to hold the position. She will begin her tenure at the Wilmington-based orchestra in the 2025-2026 season. She is currently in her second season as associate conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. Di Russo is a former Dudamel Fellow with Los Angeles Philharmonic, mentee of the Taki Alsop Fellowship, and a conducting fellow of Chicago Sinfonietta’s Project Inclusion program and the Dallas Opera Hart Institute. She has held positions as associate conductor with the North Carolina Symphony, interim director of orchestras at Cornell University, and is a conducting fellow alumna of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and the Napa Valley Festival. A native of Argentina, 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.
