Timothy Russell - Music Director

    Timothy Russell co-founded ProMusica in 1978, and is celebrating his 30th season as the orchestra's music director.

    A versatile conductor, Dr. Russell is equally skilled conducting music for chamber orchestra, symphonic concerts, large choral productions, pops concerts, and children's programs. He has collaborated with a tremendous range of artists including the Guarneri String Quartet, Borromeo String Quartet, the Manhattan Transfer, World Saxophone Quartet, cedar flutist R. Carlos Nakai, fiddler Mark O'Connor, composer Frank Zappa, flutist Sir James Galway, pianist Andre Watts, singer/songwriter Nanci Griffith, jazz violinist Regina Carter, Irish fiddler Eileen Ivers, and banjo master Béla Fleck.

    Russell is the conductor and/or producer of 28 compact discs. His recordings have earned him critical acclaim and two Grammy nominations. A frequent guest conductor with The Phoenix Symphony, Dr. Russell has also appeared on multiple occasions with the Charlotte Symphony and the South Dakota Symphony, as well as with the American Classical Orchestra, the Baton Rouge Symphony, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, the Orquestra Sinfonica Escola Superior de Artes in Portugal, and many others. He will return to the podium for the holiday season performances of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker with Ballet Arizona, in addition to leading that company’s new production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

    Russell's devotion to ProMusica and its mission, including the commissioning and premiering of new works by American composers, has been rewarded nationwide. Dr. Russell was awarded the 2006 Pegasus Award by the Ohioana Library Association for his “outstanding achievements and contributions to the arts and humanities.” Together, Dr. Russell and ProMusica received the 1997 Greater Columbus Arts Council's "Artistic Excellence Award" and have, on eight occasions, been honored by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP).

    A Danforth Foundation Fellow, Russell is an articulate and committed advocate for the arts. Often a featured speaker at music conferences and workshops, Russell recently published a research article with Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer in the international journal Psychology of Music entitled “Orchestral Performance and the Footprint of Mindfulness”. He is finishing a book called Mindful Music Making.

    Dr. Russell has held academic appointments at his alma mater, The Ohio State University, as well as the University of Rochester, including its Eastman School of Music. He served for nine seasons as the Music Director and Conductor of The Naples Philharmonic. In 1993 he became Professor of Music and Director of Orchestras at Arizona State University.

    Timothy Russell and his wife, Jill, reside in Phoenix, Arizona as do their children, Kathryn and Geoffrey.