Cornelia Laemmli Orth
Cornelia Laemmli Orth is in her eighth season as music director of Symphony of the Mountains. In addition to her Masterworks Series, she has developed family, young people, movie, pops, patriotic and cross-over concerts. She brings in world-renowned soloists to perform with the symphony. An advocate for contemporary music, Orth brings a variety of
new music to the region.
During the 2014-15 season, she will serve as guest conductor for the Asheville Lyric Opera in Asheville, N.C. From 2010-12, she served as interim music director for the Appalachian Philharmonic and the Appalachian State University opera program in Boone, N.C. She has served as music director of the Oak Ridge Symphony and Choir. She served as associate conductor and principal guest conductor with the Knoxville Symphony from 2002-2008 and is a regular guest conductor. She is a much sought-after guest conductor in the U.S. and Europe.
In Europe, she was music director of the Operetta Theatre in Moeriken, Switzerland, guest assistant conductor under Philippe Jordan at La Scala in Milan, Italy and conducted choirs and ad hoc orchestras with musicians from the Zurich Opera House and the Tonhalle Orchestra.
She received her Lehrdiplom in piano from the Conservatory at Winterhur and graduated from the Conservatory and University in Zurich, Switzerland with a master's in music education and choral conducting. She obtained a master's in orchestra conducting from Northwestern University, where she studied under Victor Yampolsky. She also has studied with Larry Rachleff, Marin Alsop, Joann Falletta, Robert Spano, Kirk Trevor, Tsung Yeh, Milen Nachev and Johannes Schlaefli.
Orth combines the classical-romantic tradition of her old-world origins with the American and particularly Appalachian flavor that her international background and working experience in her adopted country provides her.
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