Vimbayi Kaziboni © Ensemble intercontemporain
Vimbayi Kaziboni
Widely sought-after for his depth of approach, interpretive imagination, and expressivity, as well as his innovative and thoughtful curation, Zimbabwean-born conductor, Vimbayi Kaziboni has led many critically lauded performances with orchestras across the globe, performing at some of the most prestigious concert halls in the world, including Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Hall, Royal Concertgebouw, Berlin Philharmonie, Elbphilharmonie, Philharmonie de Paris, Royal Festival Hall & Queen Elizabeth Hall at Southbank Centre, and at Lincoln Center.
Recent collaborators have included the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra, Geneva Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Klangforum Wien, London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Contrechamps, City of Birmingham New Music Group, International Contemporary Ensemble, and the Martha Graham Dance Company. Collaborations with acclaimed soloists have included Pierre Laurent Aimard, Tabea Zimmermann, Claire Chase, and Steven Schick among others. Upcoming debuts include performances with the SWR Symphonieorchester, New World Symphony, Musikkollegium Winterhur, RAI National Symphony Orchestra, and the American Composers Orchestra. Return engagements this season include the BBC Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra, Klangforum Wien, International Contemporary Ensemble, Ensemble Modern & Ensemble Modern Orchestra.
Celebrated as “a conductor who clearly knows his way around an avant-garde score” (The Times - London), critics have hailed Kaziboni among the foremost interpreters of modern classical music of his generation. He has led premieres of hundreds of new works by composers that include Georg Friedrich Haas (weiter und weiter und weiter…), George Lewis (Song of the Shank, Disputatio), Heiner Goebbels (House of Call), John Luther Adams (Prophecies in Stone), Augusta Read Thomas (The Auditions), Dai Fujikura (Shamisan Concerto), Liza Lim (The Spinning World), Yann Robin (Toccata), Jacob TV (The News Suite), among many others. Moreover, he has had a long association with leading contemporary music groups, Ensemble Modern and Ensemble Intercontemporain where he served as assistant conductor at the beginning of his career and now prolifically collaborates with as a guest conductor and curator.
Newly appointed conductor-in-residence of Klangforum Wien from January 2024, Kaziboni also currently serves as artist-in-residence with the International Contemporary Ensemble, music director of the Composers Conference, artistic advisor of the Boston Lyric Opera, and a professor of orchestral studies and contemporary music at Boston Conservatory at Berklee where he was 2019 Teacher of the Year. A former Fulbright fellow, Kaziboni holds degrees from the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles and the University of Music and Performing Arts Frankfurt (HfMDK) in Germany. As the recipient of the 2024 Ditson Conductor’s Award from Columbia University, Kaziboni joins a list of conducting luminaries and personal artistic heroes that include Leonard Bernstein, James de Priest, Michael Tilson Thomas, Marin Alsop and others.
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 October 2025