Vimbayi Kaziboni © Ensemble intercontemporain
Vimbayi Kaziboni
Zimbabwean-born conductor Vimbayi Kaziboni (b. 1988) currently serves as artistic advisor of the Boston Lyric Opera, artist-in-residence with the International Contemporary Ensemble, and professor of orchestral studies and contemporary music at Boston Conservatory. Previously he has served in roles as conductor of the International Ensemble Modern Academy (Frankfurt), assistant conductor of Ensemble intercontemporain (Paris), assistant professor and director of orchestral activities at Gettysburg College and artistic director of the New Philharmonic (Omaha) and What's Next? Ensemble (Los Angeles).
Kaziboni has led many critically lauded performances with orchestras across the globe, in Australia, Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland the United Kingdom, the United States, and Uzbekistan, performing at some of the most prestigious concert halls in the world, including Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Hall, Lincoln Center, Davies Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Philharmonie de Paris, Elbphilharmonie, Deutschlandfunk, Hessischer Rundfunk, Oper Frankfurt, Sala São Paulo, among others.
In the 2021/22 season Kaziboni makes debuts at the Berliner Philharmonie, Kölner Philharmonie, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Wiener Konzerthaus, Miller Theatre, and at festivals that include Beethovenfest Bonn, Donaueschinger Musiktage, musica viva (Munich), and Spoleto Festival (Charleston). He will premiere works by Georg Friedrich Haas, George Lewis, Heiner Goebbels and Hannah Kendall among others, and will also collaborate with director Yuval Sharon, in a new and visionary production of Puccini’s “La Bohéme” (Boston Lyric Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Spoleto Festival), and later with Sir Simon Rattle as assistant conductor in a program of Beethoven and George Walker at the BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall in London.
Hailed among the foremost interpreters of modern and contemporary classical music of his generation, Kaziboni has worked directly with many of the leading composers of the day that include Helmut Lachenmann, Steve Reich, George Benjamin, Augusta Read Thomas, George Lewis, Liza Lim, Morten Lauridsen, Dai Fujikura, Rebecca Saunders, Matthias Pintscher, Olga Neuwirth, Bruno Mantovani, Nicolaus A. Huber, and Jacob TV among many others.
In addition to leading premieres of new works at renowned venues and festivals across the globe, Kaziboni has had a long association with leading contemporary classical music institutions, Ensemble Modern and Ensemble intercontemporain where he served as assistant conductor at the beginning of his career and now prolifically collaborates with as guest conductor. Recent collaborators have also included the San Francisco Symphony, Omaha Symphony, London Sinfonietta, International Contemporary Ensemble (New York), Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Ensemble Contrechamps (Geneva), Grossman Ensemble (Chicago), Hamburg Camerata, Omnibus Ensemble (Tashkent), Martha Graham Dance Company (New York), and the Dream Unfinished (New York) among many others.
A former Fulbright Fellow (2013-14), Mr. Kaziboni holds degrees from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts in Germany.
As of June 2021