Cynthia Woods

“Conducted by Cynthia Woods, the Zwillich was dynamic and immersing…” exclaimed John Galigour of the Sun Valley News, after witnessing the Pacific Coast premier of Pulitzer Prize winner Ellen Taffe Zwillich’s work Upbeat with the Grande Rhonde Symphony.

A violinist by training, Ms. Woods turned her attention to the podium in her early twenties and opportunities soon followed. Her career has taken her across the country and overseas to perform with groups including the Plevin Philharmonic, the Rocky Mountain Chamber Players, The Transylvania Symphony Orchestra, the Greater Newburgh Symphony and the Varna Philharmonic. Her opera debut was made in a series of sold-out performances of Bernstein’s On the Town at The Center for Performing Arts at Rhinebeck, New York . An advocate of contemporary American music, she has worked with some of today’s most significant composers, including Joan Tower, John Corigliano and George Crumb, and was chosen to be a Fellow at the prestigious Atlantic Center for the Arts, Florida.

Ms. Woods received her B.M. in Violin Performance from University of Colorado-Boulder and earned an M.M. and an Artist Diploma in Orchestral Conducting from The Hartt School of Music, where she studied with Harold Farberman. In addition to her experience as a guest conductor, Ms. Woods has been the Music Director for the Boston Community Music Center Chamber Orchestra and is the Artistic Director for the Worcester Youth Orchestras - the partnered youth orchestra of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

For more information about Ms. Woods, see www.cynthiawoods.org.