On December 6, 2010, Russell was named conductor of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, effective September 1, 2011, succeeding the late Erich Kunzel.
[2] Russell was named the Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra in March 2012.
In April 2015, Russell was named Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Principal Pops conductor, following in the footsteps of Marvin Hamlisch and Doc Severinsen.
He conducted performances of 45 world premieres, many under the auspices of the Windsor Canadian Music Festival, and recorded the Juno nominated album of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf.
In September 1999, Russell replaced Maestro Kunzel with an hour's notice to conduct the Cincinnati Pops' opening weekend concerts.
Maestro Russell has also served as associate conductor of the Savannah Symphony Orchestra, director of the orchestral program at Vanderbilt University, and music director with the College Light Opera Company in Falmouth, Massachusetts, where his associate conductors included Georgia Stitt and Eric Whitacre.
The most recent CBC broadcast recording of Aurora Borealis by Jordon Nobles, was selected to represent Canada in the 57th annual International Rostrum of Composers in Lisbon, Portugal in June 2010.
In 2006 the Windsor Symphony Orchestra released Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf narrated by actor Colm Feore, and Last Minute Lulu, composed by WSO Composer-in-Residence, Brent Lee, with text by the Newbery Medal winning author, Christopher Paul Curtis.
Russell's American Soundscapes video series with The Pops and Cincinnati's CET Public Television has surpassed one million views on YouTube since its launch in 2016.
The "Sound Discoveries" series Russell developed with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is a model for educational concerts.
During his tenure with WSO, his educational concerts engaged more than 100,000 students and teachers in Essex, Lambton and Kent counties.