Kim Diehnelt established her craft as conductor and artistic coach in Finland and Switzerland where she worked with the South Bohemian Chamber Orchestra, and Russian and Baltic ensembles. In Helsinki, Ms. Diehnelt founded the Helsinki Camerata, a group dedicated to a chamber music approach to orchestral performance. She was Director of Chamber Music at the Musicology Department of Helsinki University and Music Director of the Helsinki Community College Orchestra. Kim is grateful for the mentoring she received from the late Sergiu Commissiona and János Fürst. In the United States, Ms. Diehnelt was Music Director of Opera Millennium (MN) where she led the premiere production of Margorie Rusche's dance opera Goddess Songs. Kim has been Music Director of the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra and Lakeside Pride Orchestra (IL). From 2001-2006, Kim served as Assistant Conductor of the Symphony of Oak Park and River Forest (IL) led by Music Director Jay Friedman. Ms. Diehnelt’s tenure culminated with the orchestra’s 75th Anniversary Concert, where she conducted a striking performance of Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony and the dramatic premiere of Symphonic Journal: Ambush from Ten Sides by Angel Lam. In May 2005, Ms Diehnelt accepted the post of Conductor of the Chicago Reading Orchestra. During the next two years Kim conducted the CRO in over 100 works, including the symphonic repertoire of Bruckner, Debussy, Elgar, Ravel, and Strauss, readings of contemporary pieces, and Mahler’s symphonies, Das Lied von der Erde, and Kindertotenlieder. Ms. Diehnelt presented the works of contemporary award-winning composers in public readings with the CRO: Memories of My Previous Lives by Angel Lam, the two-time winner of the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, and Dance Aurora by Bjorn Berkhout, 2006 winner of the Gustav Mahler City of Klagenfurt Composition Prize. Kim has been Guest Conductor of the Waukegan Symphony Orchestra (IL), Marshall Area Youth Orchestra (MN), Suburban Youth Symphony Orchestra (IL), and the VanderCook College of Music Orchestra (Chicago, IL). She was Guest Conductor for the American Opera Group's 2006 production of Die Fledermaus (Oak Park, IL). In 2002, Kim conducted at the Aspen Music Festival. Ms. Diehnelt is an authority on the music of Edward Elgar. The Elgar Society in England has sponsored Kim’s conducting of Elgar’s Symphony No. 1, the tone-poem In the South, and the Cockaigne Overture. Ms. Diehnelt regularly speaks on Elgar: His story, his music, coaches performers on Elgar's works, and sponsors recitals and live radio broadcasts of Elgar's chamber music. Kim was recently asked to be a founding member of the North America Branch of the Elgar Society, and will speak at the inaugural conference in March, 2010. Ms. Diehnelt is an esteemed artistic coach, working with musicians in preparation for solo and chamber performances or auditions. Her coaching is notable for Kim’s uncanny ability to reveal musical qualities hidden within the performer and the composition. Ms. Diehnelt also shares her insightful musical concepts in Coaching Notes published online. Ms. Diehnelt is also a discerning essayist and occasional commentator on classical radio. Ms. Diehnelt’s vast repertoire covers the works of European and Nordic composers. Kim has worked with contemporary American composers Bjorn Berkhout, Angel Lam, Libby Larsen, Stephen Paulus, and Roberto Sierra. Kim's pacing and style reflect an inherent understanding of rhetoric and dramatic flow. She has been praised for her “unusual talent to communicate through the orchestra to her audience.” Kim's conducting is “inspiring and persuasive,” and “electrifying.”
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