“Rachel Dellinger, director of communications at the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, became president of the Young Professionals of Knoxville in January 2016,” writes Cortney Roark in Friday’s (1/4) Knoxville News Sentinel (TN) about the city’s “40 Under 40” professionals. “January 2016 was also the month she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. With 10 months of treatment ahead of her, Dellinger, then 28, was forced to slow down [but she] continued to work full-time at the KSO. ‘It was important to keep some normalcy and keep those people that I had built a relationship with close to me,’ she said…. Four months later, Aram Demirjian was named as KSO’s new music director. Dellinger executed the communication strategy surrounding his introduction to the Knoxville community, a crucial piece of her mission to increase awareness and engagement between the symphony and the community…. Since Dellinger became director of communications six years ago, she has increased traffic on KSO social media platforms by 60 percent. This season she created the Young Friends of the Symphony [for] existing and potential audience members ages 25-45…. ‘You don’t have to wear a ballgown or a tuxedo to enjoy the symphony,’ Dellinger said. ‘It’s just a wonderful thing to witness.’ ”
Posted January 7, 2019
