Sep 4 – Mélisse Brunet & Brooke Rabey – Lexington Philharmonic

For almost sixty-five years the Lexington Philharmonic (LexPhil) has been at the heart of Lexington’s artistic and cultural heritage. Today Rotarians will hear from two remarkable women charged with keeping LexPhil true to its traditions while being responsive to the rapidly changing environment faced by all of the arts, Artistic Director Mélisse Brunet and Executive Director Brooke Raby.

Renowned as a conductor of “uncommon emotional intensity” (Marie-Celine) and a “force at the podium” (Eugene Scene), American conductor Mélisse Brunet is a native of Paris, France with Spanish and Italian roots. In July 2022, she became the fifth Music Director of the Lexington Philharmonic, and the first woman to hold the position. She is also in her fifth season as the Music Director of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic. Brunet is one of the five conductors featured in the documentary Maestra by the Director Maggie Contreras and produced by David Letterman and Melanie Miller (Navalny). Maestra garnered 2nd place and the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary. The film’s exploration of Brunet’s daring journey at the international La Maestra competition has received rave reviews in the press, including two articles in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Hollywood Reporter. The 2025/26 season features Brunet’s Carnegie Hall debut in a program of new works leading the American Composers Orchestra. Other upcoming highlights include performances with the Phoenix Symphony, Sacramento Philharmonic, Charlottesville Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, and Canton Symphony.

As a dynamic advocate of contemporary music, Brunet has collaborated with composers such as Shawn Okpebholo (appointing him as the Lexington Philharmonic’s first-ever Black composer-in-residence), Mary D. Watkins, T.J. Cole, Steven Stucky, Michael Daugherty, Shulamit Ran, James Barry, Loren Loiacono, and Jennifer Higdon, among others. Brunet is a respected educator in both France and the USA. Most recently, she served as the first woman Director of Orchestral Studies at the University of Iowa-School of Music. She holds diplomas from the Paris Conservatory, the Université la Sorbonne, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and a Doctorate in conducting from the University of Michigan.

Brooke Raby has been the Executive Director of LexPhil since July 2024, following a 10-month appointment as Interim Executive Director in 2023. A native of Russellville, Kentucky, she has called Lexington home since starting at the University of Kentucky in 1998. Brooke has worked as Special Projects Coordinator at Kentucky Monthly magazine; Director of Sales & Marketing for the University Press of Kentucky; Development Manager for the Hope Center in Lexington; and Kentucky Book Festival Manager for Kentucky Humanities. She also held various positions at Joseph-Beth Booksellers between 2000 and 2013.