Cosima Luther, originally from Denver, is an active conductor, violinist, and educator whose career brought her to Los Angeles and abroad, including Germany, Spain, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, England, Scotland, Wales, South Korea, Italy, France, Austria, and China. Cosima has shared the stage with Stevie Wonder, Janet Jackson, Carrie Underwood, Natalie Cole, Quincy Jones, and Christina Aguilera.
In addition to her role as assistant conductor for the Denver Philharmonic, Cosima is the assistant conductor of the University of Denver Lamont School of Music Symphony Orchestra, where she is beginning her Artist Diploma in Orchestral Conducting under Lawrence Golan. Cosima just finished six years as conductor of Gustavo Dudamel’s Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (YOLA, 2015–2021), which included preparing the students for playing under Dudamel’s baton. Cosima was also a lead teaching artist for YOLA for eleven years. She accompanied her YOLA students to Super Bowl 50 (a Broncos victory!), where her students performed during the Halftime Show with artists Coldplay, Bruno Mars, and Beyoncé.
Cosima’s conducting career took off immediately after graduating from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music in 2008. She was appointed Tour Conductor of the Irvine Young Concert Artists Orchestra and embarked on a South Korea and China tour for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She has rigorously pursued her conducting career, receiving the highest recommendation from her teacher Larry Livingston at USC and teachers Harold Farberman and Leon Botstein since attending the Bard College Conductors Institute for three summers (2010, 2011, 2013) as a Fellow conductor. Cosima has had numerous guest appearances, including guest conductor of the Western States Honor Orchestra Festival of Colorado at the University of Northern Colorado (2014) and guest conductor of the AA Orchestra Festival in Billings, Montana (2019). Cosima’s previous positions include Music Director, South Bay Youth Orchestra (2008–2012), and assistant conductor, Los Angeles Youth Orchestra (2008–2009). Cosima was scheduled to have her conducting debut at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in April 2020, which was canceled by the pandemic.