Every month, the print version of Fort Worth Magazine profiles a local mover and shaker who, through their work and personal pursuits, contributes to the fabric of our city. We call this running department — and the person we spotlight — the monthly “Fort Worthian.”
Stephanie Rhodes Russell once sat beneath a grand piano in her family’s home, 8 years old, absorbing every note of her mother’s voice lessons. Decades later, these early memories in American Fork, Utah, would aid Rhodes Russell in leading world-class orchestras from Moscow to Charlotte and, now, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra — which she conducted on Jan. 16 and 17 during its annual “Wild West Rodeo” performances.
“I remember just kind of taking it all in,” Rhodes Russell says about her mother’s lessons. “Feeling the vibration.”
Rhodes Russell began piano at 5 and quickly became a natural collaborator. Her early strength was sight-reading — in layman’s terms, the ability to accurately perform music from written notation — a skill that made working with singers second nature and would later draw her toward opera…