Timothy Russell is a Professor of Music and Director of Orchestras at Arizona State University. He is one of America's most versatile and dynamic conductors and foremost music educators. With a repertoire of over 1000 works conducted, including over 80 world premieres, he is equally at home leading the great symphonic literature, music for chamber orchestra, large choral works, pops concerts, ballet, and children's programs. He has collaborated in performances and recordings with such diverse artists as the Guarneri String Quartet, Manhattan Transfer, World Saxophone Quartet, Native American cedar flutist R. Carlos Nakai, fiddler Mark O’Connor, the Regina Carter Quintet, Paquito D’Rivera, the legendary pop/folk singer/songwriter Nanci Griffith and her Blue Moon Orchestra, the Milton Ruffin Gospel Chorale, flutist Sir James Galway, pianists Richard Goode and André Watts, singers Benita Valente, Roberta Peters, and Hermann Prey, Ballet Arizona and the Miami City Ballet, as well as composers such as Michael Daugherty, Philip Glass, Peter Schickele, Joan Tower, Frank Zappa, and Pulitzer Prize-winners Ned Rorem and George Walker.

An articulate spokesperson for the arts, his obvious joy in discussing music and building new audiences is only surpassed by the insight and energy which his concerts possess . . . entertaining and enlightening programs of music spanning over four centuries, powerfully presented for listeners of all ages. The Columbus Dispatch has written, “Timothy Russell brings an intellectual curiosity to everything that he does. . . versatility and virtuosity . . . Russell’s infectious enthusiasm, knack for innovation, and artistic sensibility have inspired support vital to the continued success of any artistic enterprise. Bravo!”

Dr. Russell is the co-founder and music director of the award-winning ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus, Ohio. He has been a frequent guest conductor with The Phoenix Symphony, including four highly acclaimed full-length productions of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, as well as Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and Nutcracker ballets.

Other guest conducting appearances have included the Charlotte Symphony, Baton Rouge Symphony, South Dakota Symphony, American Classical Orchestra, Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, Spokane Symphony, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra, Summit Brass, Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra, and symphony orchestras in Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, and Texas.

As a conductor/record producer, Russell has received two Grammy nominations – for The Manhattan Transfer Meets Tubby the Tuba on (d=Note Classics) as the "Best Musical Album for Children" in 1995, and for Inner Voices with R. Carlos Nakai (on Canyon Records) as A Best New Age Album” in 2000. His most recent compact discs, on Summit Records, feature American Originals and cutting edge performances of jazz-inspired American concertos, including the original orchestration of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with renowned jazz pianist D.D. Jackson as soloist, Copland’s Clarinet Concerto with Robert Spring as soloist, and a new work by Oliver Lake called Rahsaan and Stuff which was written for the World Saxophone Quartet and ProMusica. Other innovative CD’s include Circle of Faith, a unique multi-cultural recording featuring the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra and the Young Nation Singers in a work for strings and Native American drumming and chanting with a narration based on the words of Chief Seattle, and his recording of traditional spirituals and contemporary gospel favorites with soprano Faye Robinson and the Milton Ruffin Gospel Choral, an album entitled Remembering Marian Anderson that was reviewed in Ebony magazine under the headline “The Best in Recorded Music.”

A diverse collection of popular CDs by Russell include his own children´s story, The Gift of the Eagle, Poulenc's The Story of Babar and The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky (the full-length ballet with a complete story narration). In addition he has conducted the world premiere recordings of Thurber's Dogs by Peter Schickele, written in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of humorist James Thurber, Stephen Paulus' riveting inter-related arts masterpiece Voices from the Gallery, and a disc that includes the Antiphonal Fantasy by Dello Joio and the Planel Trumpet Concerto. Also available on Summit Records is Hope's Journey. All of these recordings have been enthusiastically received by listeners and critics alike, as has his vital and imaginative orchestral leadership.

During 2003-2004 Maestro Russell celebrated his twenty-fifth season as music director of ProMusica. The season included concerts with Cho-Liang Lin, Cecile Licad, Andre-Michel Schub, Colin Carr, and Carmen Pelton. In addition they premiered four new works, including special commissions by Peter Schickele, Michael Daugherty, and David Noon. The silver anniversary celebration concluded with a full-staged production of the chamber version of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass and a day-long Symposium called “Leonard Bernstein’s Mass: A Community Conversation on Faith, Music, and Social Justice”.

Russell’s achievements with ProMusica have been remarkable and diverse. They received the 1997 Greater Columbus Arts Council's "Artistic Excellence Award." The Orchestra continues to maintain its outstanding reputation for artistic performance and exciting, adventuresome programming. On eight occasions the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) has honored Russell and ProMusica for their service to contemporary music.

Russell served for nine seasons (1984-1993) as the Music Director and Conductor of The Naples Philharmonic. For the last four years of his tenure he was the resident conductor in Naples, Florida in addition to serving as Director of Music Education for the city's spectacular new Philharmonic Center for the Arts. Under his leadership that organization experienced dramatic growth in the size of its audience and number of programs, including educational and chamber music offerings.

The Naples Philharmonic became a regional orchestra with a full-time resident core ensemble of forty musicians and gained recognition as one of the finest performing ensembles in the Southeastern United States. With the opening of the new Philharmonic Center, the orchestra's season expanded to include three Classical subscription series, three Pops series, the Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra series, a "Magic Carpet" series for children ages three to six, a school series, a New Year's Eve Gala, the Candlelight chamber series, and a series of run-out performances.

Previous concert seasons have included artistic triumphs with Dickran Atamian, Edward Auer, Zuill Bailey, Gene Bertoncini, Colin Carr, Stephanie Chase, Anna Christy, Glenn Dicterow, Faith Esham, Vladimir Feltsman, Paul Galbraith, Franco Gulli, Lorna Haywood, Stanislav Ioudenich, David Hickman, Lorin Hollander, Dylana Jenson, Dong-Suk Kang, Young-Uck Kim, Stephen Kates, Ani Kavafian, Ida Kavafian, Tamaki Kawakubo, Anton Kuerti, Cecile Licad, Sergiu Luca, Ursula Oppens, Caio Pagano, Sam Pilafian, Antonio Pomap-Baldi, Hermann Prey, Nathaniel Rosen, Samuel Sanders, David Shifrin, Steven Tenenbom, James VanDemark, and Carol Wincenc.

Dr. Russell was a guest conductor at “Music in the Mountains” in July of 2005. Previously he had spent twenty summers conducting and teaching at the Interlochen Arts Camp. 2004 was his final summer there, leading the World Youth Symphony for the eighteenth consecutive year. He also performed in 2003 with ProMusica at the Kent/Blossom Chamber Music Festival. In past years other summer conducting and teaching engagements have included such settings as the American Music Festival, Ohio Chamber Music Festival, the Pittsburgh "Summerfest", Rafael Mendez Brass Institute, the National Brass Symposium, the Lake Lucerne Music Center, with the Lake Placid Sinfonietta, and at the Oklahoma Arts Institute.

Timothy Russell began his musical training on the cello and after significant accomplishments on that instrument he entered the Northwestern University School of Music. In addition to his studies, Russell became the Music Director of the Northwestern Chamber Players and later the New Art String Ensemble which performed throughout the Chicago area. In 1977, Russell won an appointment as a Danforth Foundation Fellow, receiving his Master's degree and Ph.D. from The Ohio State University, where he then taught for three years as an Assistant Professor of Music. From 1983-1989 Russell served as Conductor of Orchestras at the University of Rochester. Dr. Russell held appointments as an Associate Professor in the College of Arts and Science and as an Associate Professor of Conducting and Ensembles at the Eastman School of Music.

In the Fall of 1993, he became Professor of Music and Director of Orchestras at ASU. The ASU Symphony Orchestra has collaborated with the Bolshoi Ballet in a fully-staged production of LaBayadere and with Ballet Arizona in presenting Tchaikovsky’s full-length Swan Lake ballet. The ASU Chamber Orchestra has offered three complete performances of Handel’s Messiah with the Phoenix Bach Choir. In February of 2005 the ASU Symphony Orchestra was the featured concluding concert for the American String Teachers Association’s national conference in Reno, Nevada. In April of 1998, the ASU Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestral performed one of the featured evening concerts for the Biennial Convention of the Music Educators National Conference, a program entitled Sounds and Sights of the Desert, which included collaborations with photo-choreographer James Westwater, Alliance West, and R. Carlos Nakai. The symphony and chamber orchestras have recorded four commercially released compact discs (Perception, Lilacs: The Music of George Walker, Katherine Hoover’s Clarinet Concerto, and A Brassy Night at the Opera) as well as offered such programs as "The Classics Meet Jazz" with clarinetist Eddie Daniels and Doc Severinsen.

In addition to conducting, Dr. Russell directs a doctoral program in orchestral conducting.

Dr. Russell continues to be a featured author as well as a speaker at music conferences and workshops. In recent years he has conducted All-State Orchestras in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Texas.  He has also been involved in research concerning “Leadership Styles of Orchestral Conductors” as well as in publishing a “Conductor’s Anthology.” He is currently writing two books The Joyful Musician: A Mindful Approach to Peak Performance and Mindful Tennis with Harvard Psychologist Ellen Langer.

Russell is a USPTR Certified Tennis Instructor and was a featured speaker at the 1998 and 2000 USTA’s National Teachers Conference in New York City. In addition he was President of the USTA’s Southwest Section. He is presently chair of the USTA’s National Collegiate Committee and a member of the USTA’s National Youth Competition and Training Committee.

Timothy Russell and his wife, Jill, reside in Phoenix, Arizona with their children, Kathryn and Geoffrey. They enjoy sports, travel, and cooking.