About

A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Tamara Dworetz is a compelling and electric musical force on the podium. She has conducted the Paris Mozart Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Dallas Opera Orchestra, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Arkansas Symphony, Amarillo Symphony, and Mankato Symphony.  She has served as an assistant conductor for the Orchestre de Paris (Klaus Mäkelä),  Gürzenich Orchestre Cologne (François-Xavier Roth), BBC Concert Orchestra (Bramwell Tovey) and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (Nathalie Stutzmann) and won 2nd prize in the Boston Pops' Leonard Bernstein Conducting Competition. Her 2024-25 season will include a debut with the Sarasota Orchestra. She was recently appointed Associate Conductor of Carnegie Hall's National Youth Orchestras, NYO-USA & NYO2 and 2024-25 will begin her 2nd season as Artistic Director & Conductor of the Georgia Philharmonic.

In 2022, Tamara was selected as 1 of 14 candidates from a worldwide pool in the 2022 La Maestra Conducting Competition and Academy for Women Conductors in Paris, France. She was the only US-born conductor selected for the competition, and earned a spot as one of 6 semi-finalists. 'Maestra', a documentary directed by Maggie Contreras, features 5 conductors from the competition, including Tamara, and was premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and highlighted on CBS National News as well as international film festivals.

An advocate for new music and inventive programming, Tamara enjoys designing collaborative performances to further engage audiences and increase accessibility.  Tamara enjoys making connections through creative programming which help highlight musical elements and further engage audiences. She has been a recipient of the Bruno Walter Conducting Fellowship at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, which she twice attended, in both in 2019 and 2021, working and learning from an array of composers and musicians, and studying with Cristian Măcelaru, conductor of the WDR Symphony Orchestre in Cologne.

A devoted music educator, Tamara’s musical beginnings took place in the Atlanta public school system. Tamara is passionate about leading K-12 and pre-professional musicians in enriching musical experiences, and is proud to be the new Director of Orchestral Studies at Georgia State University and Charles Thomas Wurm Distinguished Professor in Instrumental Music. She has served guest conducting residencies at University of Texas Butler School of Music, Boston University School of Music, SUNY Fredonia School of Music, and the Longy Conservatory Orchestra at Bard College and was Music Director of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (NY) Orchestra and Concert Choir.  She has guest conducted the TMEA (Texas) All-State Philharmonic Orchestra, Colorado All-State Symphony Orchestra, and All-Northwest Honor Orchestra, served as Interim Conductor of the Austin Youth Orchestra, and worked with the Emory and Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. This season, she will conduct the Georgia All-State 11-12 String Orchestra, Colorado All-State Symphony Orchestra and guest conduct the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra. She will also conduct the National Teachers' Orchestra at the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) National Conference in partnership with the New Canon Project. From 2013-16, Tamara was the Director of Orchestras at Lakeside High School where she increased enrollment by 50%.

Tamara and her husband, Stephen, live in Brookhaven, Georgia with their dog, and when she's not conducting, she enjoys going to the dog park, drinking her favorite craft & Belgian beers, and watching dark comedies.​​

Updated 4.20.24