Diane Wittry, guest conductor

International conductor Diane Wittry specializes in conducting American music abroad, and is known in the United States for her innovative programming and her engaging audience rapport. During the past few seasons, she has conducted concerts in Japan, Canada, Bosnia, Russia, Slovakia, New York, Washington D.C, New Jersey, Wisconsin, and California, as well as her regularly scheduled concerts with the orchestras in Pennsylvania and Connecticut. She is known as a conductor who “specializes in finding creative ways to make the music fresh, accessible, and exciting.”

In the United States, Diane Wittry has led performances by, among others, The Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Buffalo Philharmonic, Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, the Little Orchestra Society of New York, and the symphony orchestras of Milwaukee, San Diego, Houston, New Jersey, Santa Barbara, Augusta, Stockton, Pottstown, Wichita, and Wichita Falls; while her international engagements include concerts with the Sarajevo Philharmonic in Bosnia, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Russia’s Maikop and Sochi symphony orchestras, Slovakia’s State Orchestra-Kosice, Italy’s Sinfonia Dell’Arte di Firenze, Canada’s Niagara Symphony, and Japan’s Orchestra Osaka Symphony. She has also conducted at the music festivals of Ojai (CA), Penn’s Woods (PA), and I-Park (CT).

Diane Wittry was recently named the Artistic Director (USA) for the International Cultural Exchange Program for Classical Musicians through the Sarajevo Philharmonic (Bosnia) and the Bosnian-Herzegovinian American Academy for Arts and Sciences (Chicago). She is also the Music Director of the Allentown Symphony Orchestra (PA), a professional orchestra that performs about 22 concerts per season. In the past, Diane Wittry has been the Music Director and Conductor of the Norwalk Symphony (CT), Artistic Director of the Ridgewood Symphony (NJ), and Music Director and Conductor of The Symphony of Southeast Texas (TX) where her artistic leadership garnered national attention.

Over the years, Diane Wittry has received many honors and awards, including the American Symphony Orchestra League’s Helen M. Thompson Award for outstanding artistic leadership of a regional orchestra. She has been the subject of profiles in The New York Times and Newsweek. Ms. Wittry received the Women of Excellence Award in Beaumont, Texas, the Arts Ovation Award and the Woman of Distinction Award from Allentown, Pennsylvania. Most recently, she became only the third American to be named – in recognition of her leadership in the arts and humanities – the recipient of the prestigious Fiorino Doro Award from the City of Vinci, Italy.

Her book Beyond the Baton, (Oxford University Press) about artistic leadership for young conductors and music director was recently re-released in paperback. It is the focus of a yearly International Conducting Workshop which helps emerging conductors put to practical use the elements in the book.

More information about Diane Wittry’s work is available at: www.DianeWittry.com