Composers Conference Announces Appointment of Vimbayi Kaziboni as Conference Music Director and Ensemble Conductor and introduces the Mario Davidovsky

Boston, MA (October 2021) The Composers Conference is pleased to announce that Vimbayi Kaziboni has been appointed the Composers Conference Music Director and Conference Ensemble Conductor.

Beginning Summer 2022, Kaziboni will take part in leading the Conference Ensemble and premiere new works by Composer Fellows and guest composers. As the Conference Music Director, Kaziboni will work closely with Conference Artistic Director Kurt Rohde, Chamber Music Workshop (CMW) Director Jessica Tong, and Contemporary Performance Institute (CPI) Director Margaret Kampmeier.

In his new role, Kaziboni will help guide CPI Fellows as they prepare new works by Composer Fellows in addition to works from the contemporary music repertoire. He will work with CMW participants as they rehearse the 2022 CMW commissioned work. Kaziboni will be part of the performance preparation for the recently-announced New Music/New Communities (NM/NC) initiative, which will feature new works by young composers from Boston area schools. 

Finally, Kaziboni will mentor and instruct the inaugural Mario Davidovsky New Music Conductor Fellow. Named in honor of the Conference’s long-serving late Director, the Fellowship will invite and support a promising new music conductor to the Composers Conference. During their two-week stay, they will take part in rehearsals, workshops, instruction, and performances. Applications for the Fellowship will open in November 2021.

Widely sought-after for his depth of approach and his interpretive imagination and expressivity, Zimbabwean-born conductor and curator Vimbayi Kaziboni has led many critically lauded performances with orchestras across the globe at some of the most prestigious concert halls in the world, including Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Hall, Davies Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Philharmonie de Paris, Elbphilharmonie, Deutschlandfunk, Hessischer Rundfunk, and Sala São Paulo, among others. In the 2021-22 season, Kaziboni debuts at the Berlin Philharmonie, Kölner Philharmonie, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Wiener Konzerthaus, and the Royal Concertgebuow in Amsterdam. He will premiere new works by Georg Frederic Haas, George Lewis, Hannah Kendall, inti figgis-vizueta, Heiner Goebbels, and Felipe Lara, among many others. Later in the Summer 2022 he will assume a role as Assistant Conductor for Sir Simon Rattle at the BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall in London.

A former Fulbright Fellow (2013-14), Mr. Kaziboni holds degrees from the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles and the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts (HfMDK) in Germany. He currently serves as Assistant Professor of Orchestral Studies and Contemporary Music at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, a fellow at the Hermitage Artist Retreat, Artist-in-Residence with International Contemporary Ensemble, and Artistic Advisor of the Boston Lyric Opera.

Commenting on his appointment as Conference Music Director and Conference Ensemble Conductor, Kaziboni remarks, “I admire greatly the mission and ethos of the Composers Conference and cherish the open, caring, and inquisitive community that they have fostered. I’m very excited to work with my new colleagues to champion and help nurture future generations of practitioners of our art form. Important work is ahead of us and I look forward to diving in.”

 “The Composers Conference is moving in a thrilling, distinctly new direction with the appointment of Vimbayi Kaziboni,” notes Artistic Director Kurt Rohde. “Collectively, the Composers Conference community is embracing a more central role activating the educational and illuminating value of new music in our society. With Vimbayi becoming part of our community, the beginning of our NM/NC Initiative, and our inaugural Mario Davidovsky New Music Conductor Fellowship, the Conference is committed more than ever to practice musicking at the highest level and with the deepest integrity, inclusivity, and innovation.”

Information about the 2022 Composers Conference is available at www.composersconference.org. Applications for Fellows opens in November 2021. For further inquiries about the Composers Conference, please contact Executive Director, Kathryn Welter: welter@composersconference.org  1 508 276 1011.