Every month, the print version of Fort Worth Magazine profiles a local mover and shaker who, through their work and personal pursuits, contributes to the fabric of our city. We call this running department \u2014 and the person we spotlight \u2014 the monthly \u201cFort Worthian.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stephanie Rhodes Russell once sat beneath a grand piano in her family\u2019s home, 8 years old, absorbing every note of her mother\u2019s voice lessons. Decades later, these early memories in American Fork, Utah, would aid Rhodes Russell in leading world-class orchestras from Moscow to Charlotte and, now, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra \u2014 which she conducted on Jan. 16 and 17 during its annual \u201cWild West Rodeo\u201d performances.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember just kind of taking it all in,\u201d Rhodes Russell says about her mother\u2019s lessons. \u201cFeeling the vibration.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rhodes Russell began piano at 5 and quickly became a natural collaborator. Her early strength was sight-reading \u2014 in layman\u2019s terms, the ability to accurately perform music from written notation \u2014 a skill that made working with singers second nature and would later draw her toward opera.<\/p>\n
After earning a bachelor\u2019s degree in collaborative piano from Utah State University and a master\u2019s in piano performance from the University of Michigan, she moved to Moscow as a Fulbright scholar, where she worked at the Bolshoi Theatre and specialized in Russian repertoire and diction. \u201cLanguages are such an important part of opera,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen you understand the language, you hear how a melody works differently.\u201d She now speaks French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Russian fluently, skills that inform her musical interpretations.<\/p>\n
Along the way, she found herself in opera\u2019s deep end, assisting on two Richard Wagner “Ring” cycles (\u201cDer Ring des Nibelungen\u201d) \u2014 the four-opera, 15-hour endurance test of the classical world \u2014 working under world-renowned conductors Donald Runnicles and Philippe Auguin, an experience that sharpened her musical stamina and her sense of scale. \u201cUltimately, you\u2019re taking what\u2019s on the page, and you\u2019re trying to bring it to life in sound,\u201d she says. \u201cYou\u2019re responsible for bringing all the components together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her rehearsal process reflects this philosophy. \u201cThe first rehearsal is really about getting on the same page,\u201d she explains. \u201cThen it\u2019s like diagnosing something \u2026 figuring out what needs work and fine-tuning the palette. I don\u2019t make a single sound,\u201d she adds. \u201cI need [the orchestra] to really feel like I\u2019m there for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to her steady rise in the world of conducting symphonies, Rhodes Russell serves as associate professor and music director of opera at the University of North Texas, a position she\u2019s held since 2022. Feeling an unwavering commitment to educate the next generation of singers, performers, conductors, and composers, Rhodes Russell also founded the Women\u2019s Artistic Leadership Initiative, a nonprofit that equips emerging female artists with leadership and business skills. \u201cYou want to inspire and ultimately empower them to play their best,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
But when she\u2019s at home, life is less formal and more improvisational. With three young children, she admits, \u201cBalance is nonexistent. But when I\u2019m with [my family], I make sure I can give them 100%.\u201d Whether shaping an orchestra\u2019s sound or a family\u2019s rhythm, her goal is the same \u2014 bringing people together to realize a vision.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, the conductor is important, don’t get me wrong, but the musicians tuning into each other and really being on the same page is more important,\u201d she says. \u201cAs a conductor, I really think I’m there to facilitate their artistry and help bring the best out of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
BY THE WAY …<\/p>\n
What type of music do you listen to when you\u2019re not conducting?<\/p>\n
“I love silence because it’s hard to come by in my life. There is so much noise between the music and between the kids. If I can drive in silence, that’s a gift, but I also love podcasts. I love listening to podcasts and just giving my brain a break from the usual things it thinks about. My husband loves ’90s alternative rock, so there’s a fair amount of it playing in our household. I’m not opposed. I love a wide variety of musical styles.\u201d<\/p>\n
FROM THE FEED<\/p>\n
February 11, 2026<\/p>\n
4:18 PM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every month, the print version of Fort Worth Magazine profiles a local mover and shaker who, through their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160591,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[11372,13734,23754,116,118,117,23058,278,22946,1012,3105,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-160590","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-bass-hall","9":"tag-bass-performance-hall","10":"tag-conductor","11":"tag-fort-worth","12":"tag-fort-worth-headlines","13":"tag-fort-worth-news","14":"tag-fort-worth-symphony-orchestra","15":"tag-music","16":"tag-orchestra","17":"tag-stephen-montoya","18":"tag-symphony","19":"tag-top-story"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}