Nell Flanders

​​​​​​​Active as a conductor, violinist, pianist, and educator, Nell Flanders brings her dynamic musicality to performances in a wide variety of genres, from orchestral classics to contemporary music, tango, blues, and period instrument baroque. In August 2022, Dr. Flanders began her tenure as Director of Orchestral Activities at Idaho State University where she leads the Idaho State-Civic Symphony Orchestra and the ISU Chamber Orchestra. 

In her previous position as Visiting Lecturer in Orchestra Studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Dr. Flanders directed the UMBC Symphony Orchestra. While at UMBC, she curated a festival of tango music and dance featuring the Latin Grammy winning Pedro Giraudo Tango Quartet and conducted the faculty new music ensemble as part of UMBC’s Livewire Festival.  

From 2018-2021 she held the position of Georg and Joyce Albers-Schonberg Assistant Conductor with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, conducting the PSO in ballet, popular classics, and holiday concerts, and creating highly successful online educational programs featuring Bach’s Musical Offering.

​​​​​​​Dr. Flanders has given many orchestral premieres, including collaborating in the creation of a new work by composer Derek Bermel with violin soloist Midori and the Youth Orchestra of Central Jersey in May 2021 and conducting premieres with The Chelsea Symphony in NYC. Dr. Flanders’ opera credits include the premieres of new operas by composer Daniel Felsenfeld with The Secret Opera, performances of Kamala Sankaram’s The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace in New York City with New Camerata Opera, and serving as Assistant Conductor with Peabody Opera Theater. 

Dedicated to educating the next generation of musicians, Dr. Flanders has conducted orchestras at the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division since 2014, and she travels frequently to Panama to work with students at the Campamento Musical Juvenil and the Festival Internacional de Música, Alfredo de Saint Malo.

Previous appointments include teaching at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College-CUNY, the University of Chicago, and Utah State University. Dr. Flanders holds degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory, Mannes College, and the Peabody Conservatory where she studied with conductor Marin Alsop.