“For me, music is a poetic reading of time, where I work within time to create the opportunity for expressiveness, beauty, and poetic engagement, both within and between individuals.”
Trained in the United States and Europe, Kim Diehnelt established her craft as conductor in both Finland and Switzerland, leading Baltic, Russian, and European ensembles. In Helsinki, Kim founded the Helsinki Camerata, a group dedicated to a chamber music approach to orchestral performance. Her pacing and style reflect an inherent understanding of rhetoric and dramatic flow, receiving praise for her "unusual talent to communicate through the orchestra to her audience."
Kim has been composing works for solo instruments, chamber, orchestral and choral ensembles since 2011 when, after decades on the conductor's podium, she "suddenly had something to say." Her style is best described as a “Nordic Palestrina” as her works possess a lyrical, vocal quality with an attention to beauty and the sense of an unfolding story. Kim was named the KISMET Foundation’s 2018 Artist-in-Residence and created the nature-inspired work Yarmouth Time for Violin and Cello which appears on the Trio Casals album "Moto Finale" released in December 2021. The Filharmonie Brno performance of Striadica: A Symphonic Passage was released on the album "Legends and Light, Vol. 2" in January 2022.
- Named as the new Music Director of the Burlington Civic Symphony. Details
- "Memento for Clarinet, Horn, and 4-Part Cello Choir" receives its world premiere as part of the Kanack School of Musical Artistry's Cello Scholarship Fundraiser. April 26, 2025, 6:15 pm. at the Artisan Church, Rochester, NY. More about the Kanack School.
- Guest Conductor for the Burlington Civic Symphony, March 8, 2025. Details
- January 15, 2025: "With Courage, Dear Heart" recording session with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow, Scotland. Look for the album release later this year!
- Green Mountain Mahler Festival. Conducting Edward Elgar's Symphony No. 1. November 18, 2024. Details
- New work for String Orchestra (without basses) called "With Courage, Dear Heart" completed August, 2024. 7-8'.
- "A Garden Walk" and "By the Old Pond" for Tenor Recorder and Cello. Completed in the summer of 2024, and entered into the American Recorder Society's New Music for Recorder Library. Details
- "Adirondack Spring" and "Song of Well-Wishes" both get a reading at the American String Teachers Association's 2024 National Conference as part of their New Music Reading Sessions. March 22 & 23, 2024, Louisville, KY. Details.
- "At the Edge of Dawn" a new work for Trumpet and String Orchestra for trumpet player Alisa Crueger-Cain, completed Jannuary 2024.
- Commissioned work, “Memento” for Clarinet, Horn and Cello Choir, completed, 2023.
- Holiday orchestral track released on the Navona label on November 10, 2023. And here it is! Dashing Vol. 4!
- Trio Casals performance of “Yarmouth Time” at Carnegie Hall, May 5, 2023. Details.
- Music Director of the Burlington Civic Symphony.
- Chamber Music Coach, July 2024. Annual one-week Chamber Music camp in Burlington, VT
- Conductor of the Burlington Orchestra Workshop for Strings, aka BOWS. Burlington, VT.