The Lucy Moore Ruffin Chair

As Associate Conductor of the North Carolina Symphony, Michelle Di Russo has been responsible for conducting the Symphony’s extensive statewide music education concerts. She has also conducted UNC Health Summerfest performances, Young People's Concerts, Statewide Holiday Pops concerts, and statewide classical subscription performances with the Symphony. 

A graceful and powerful force on the podium, Michelle Di Russo is known for her compelling interpretations, passionate musicality, and championing of contemporary music. She was appointed a 2023/24 Dudamel Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and participated at the Lucerne Festival Academy. An advocate for underrepresented artists, she co-founded the organization Girls Who Conduct to support younger generations of women and non-binary conductors. 

Di Russo’s artistic journey began in her native country, Argentina, at the age of three with ballet lessons, followed by studies in voice and piano. She has acted on television and onstage. Di Russo holds multiple degrees in Orchestral Conducting from Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina, University of Kentucky (M.M.), and Arizona State University (D.M.A.). She is a former Freeman Conducting Fellow in Chicago Sinfonietta’s prestigious Project Inclusion program and a recipient of the Concert Artists Guild’s Richard S. Weinert Award. 

Previously, Di Russo served as Interim Director of Orchestras at Cornell University, Assistant Conductor for the Phoenix Youth Symphony Orchestra, cover conductor and assistant for The Phoenix Symphony and Arizona Musicfest, and as a conducting fellow at the Cortona Sessions for New Music in Italy. She has also acted as cover conductor for the Minnesota Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, and the National Symphony Orchestra. In the summer of 2022, she served as the Joel Revzen Conducting Fellow at Festival Napa Valley.