THE NUTCRACKER

Kilburn has served as Assistant Conductor of the National Repertory Orchestra, the El Paso Opera, the Hot Springs Music Festival, the Bowling Green State University Philharmonia, and the St. Louis Symphony Chorus. Her leadership roles include Conductor of the Interlochen Arts Academy Wind Ensemble, Music Director of the Greater New Haven Youth and Chamber Orchestras, and Interim Director of the Vermont Youth Orchestra Association’s Philharmonia. She has also guest-conducted the Mansfield Symphony Orchestra, the Lawrence University Symphony Orchestra, the Green Bay Symphony, Ensemble X, Cleveland Opera Theater, and the Baldwin Wallace Symphony Orchestra.

This season, Kilburn returns to the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra for the Jane Rooks Ross & Barry Ross Family Discovery Concert and educational concerts reaching upwards of 12 thousand students, and performances of Nutcracker with Ballet Arts Ensemble. She will also conduct the Jackson Symphony Orchestra in their performances of Nutcracker this year. She was also engaged with the Grossman Ensemble and the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition for their 2024/25 season.

Notably, Kilburn assisted Sir Simon Rattle for performances of Peter Grimes at the Salzburg Easter Festival and has toured with acclaimed clarinetists David Shifrin and Alexander Fiterstein. A passionate advocate for new music, she has conducted numerous world and U.S. premieres and participated in several premiere recordings, including those on the Naxos American Classics/Milken Archive label. Her festival appearances include the Cabrillo Music Festival, the MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music Festival, the Philadelphia International Music Festival, and the Sewanee Summer Music Festival.

Previous to her time at MSU, Kilburn was Interim Director of Orchestras at Cornell University while also maintaining a regular schedule of guest conducting, adjudicating, and being a clinician at festivals around the US. She also served as Interim Director of Orchestras at Kent State University, and previous to that was on faculty at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, where she coordinated the Composition Performance Program, taught conducting and guest conducted the Baldwin Wallace Symphony Orchestra.

An alumnus of the Conservatoire Darius Milhaud in France and the Royal Academy of Music in London, Kilburn earned her DMA in Contemporary Music from Bowling Green State University, a MM in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Michigan, a MM in Choral Conducting from Indiana University, and a BA in Music and French from Wellesley College. Kilburn makes her home in Haslett, Michigan where she lives with her husband Octavio and two children, Luana and Sebastián. In her spare time she enjoys being out in nature, reading, traveling, cooking, and spending time with her family.