Michelle Di Russo

Michelle Di Russo is an Argentinian-Italian conductor based in the United States. She is the Associate Conductor of the North Carolina Symphony. She is also the co-founder of Girls Who Conduct, an initiative that promotes gender equality in conducting.

Di Russo was born in Argentina to Italian parents. She earned a degree in Orchestral Conducting and Music Production of Audiovisual Media from Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina. She moved to the United States in 2015, where she earned a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Kentucky and a Doctoral Degree in Orchestral Conducting from Arizona State University.

She is the recipient of multiple conducting fellowships: the Freeman Conducting Fellowship in Chicago Sinfonietta’s 2020-2021 Project Inclusion program; the Conducting Fellowship for the 2021 Dallas Opera Hart Institute; and the Dudamel Fellowship for the 2023-2024 season with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

In 2021, Di Russo joined the North Carolina Symphony as an Assistant Conductor, and in 2022, she was promoted to the role of Associate Conductor of the North Carolina Symphony. She also served as Interim Director of Orchestras at Cornell for the 2021-2022 season. In 2023, Di Russo was first female conductor to conduct the Delaware Symphony Orchestra in multiple decades. In 2024, Di Russo was appointed Associate Conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.