Winner of the International Conductors Workshop and Competition, Dr. Kira Omelchenko is the Associate Dean of Performance and Recruitment, an Associate Professor of Music, and the Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra at Wilfrid Laurier University (Ontario, Canada). A passionate educator, Dr. Omelchenko was nominated for a Grammy Music Educator Award, the Laurier Innovation in Teaching Award, and was the recipient of the prestigious FSC Miller Distinguished Professor Award in 2018. In addition, she is a recipient of the National American Prize in Music (Prize Winner in Opera Conducting) and is a current finalist in the American Prize virtual concert production category. Upcoming guest conducting engagements include Carnegie Hall, the Vienna Opera Academy, and guest residencies in Victoria (BC), Wyoming, Hawaii, South Korea, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea.
Dr. Omelchenko was the 2017 Winner of the International Institute for Conductors in Bulgaria, and has guest conducted and taught in Italy, Russia, Bulgaria, Spain, Portugal, the U.S., and Canada. A global musician, she has held international conducting fellowships and has studied in Vienna, Bulgaria, and the Rotterdam and Amsterdam conservatories in the Netherlands. She currently serves on the orchestra panel for And We Were Heard (AWWH), an organization that brings quality recordings of works by underrepresented composers, and is a mentor for Girls Who Conduct, a program that encourages the upcoming generation of women, women-identifying, and non-binary conductors. A native of Kansas, Dr. Omelchenko holds degrees from the Knox College, the University of New Mexico, and a doctoral degree in orchestral conducting from the University of Iowa, where she studied with Dr. William LaRue Jones.
