Cynthia Katsarelis

Associate Professor of the Practice, Conducting
Director, Ritornello Chamber Orchestra

Disciplines: Conducting

Education

D.M.A., University of Colorado, Boulder
M.M. & B.M., The Johns Hopkins University, Peabody Conservatory of Music

Professional Biography

New to the Sacred Music faculty, Dr. Cynthia Katsarelis has conducted over 50 orchestras following her apprenticeship with the Cincinnati Symphony, Pops, and May Festival. As Music Director of Pro Musica Colorado Chamber Orchestra her commitment to music of new and diverse composers has resulted in numerous commissions and world and regional premieres. She has collaborated extensively with professional and community choirs, dancers, and soloists, and has worked in opera and mixed media (visual and film).

Believing in the transformative power of music, Dr. Katsarelis has taught in Haiti since 2004 at L’École de Musique Sainte Trinité in Port-au-Prince and its summer music camps in Cange and near Mirebalais. There, she’s conducted L’Orchestre Philharmonique Sainte Trinité, taught violin pedagogy, and worked with the children’s choir, Les Petits Chanteurs. Her commitment to social justice through music includes producing benefit concerts and food drives.

Dr. Katsarelis is on the board of the International Conductors Guild and served as the chair of the ICG Womens Caucus and as a moderator on various panels. Her dissertation thesis projects included work on Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14 and an examination of the symphonies of Louise Farrenc.