Vimbayi Kaziboni

Vimbayi Kaziboni joined the Conservatory in 2018 and is an assistant professor of orchestral studies and contemporary classical music.

Described as a conductor of “great intensity, without distancing, maneuvering, without indifference” (Neue Musikzeitung, Leipzig), the Zimbabwean-born conductor is widely sought after for his depth of approach, interpretive imagination, and expressivity, as well as his innovative and thoughtful curation. Kaziboni has led critically lauded performances with orchestras across the globe (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, Royal Concertgebouw, Berlin Philharmonie, Elbphilharmonie, Philharmonie de Paris, Sala São Paulo, Royal Festival Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall at Southbank Centre, and at Lincoln Center.

Recent collaborators have included the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, SWR Symphonieorchester, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra, Geneva Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Klangforum Wien, London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Contrechamps, 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. 

A prolific, multifaceted artist, widely 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 across the globe 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), and Jacob TV (The News Suite). He also has worked with other leading composers, including George Benjamin, Helmut Lachenmann, Steve Reich, Rebecca Saunders, Felipe Lara, Morten Lauridsen, Olga Neuwirth, and Matthias Pintscher, among many others. Moreover, he has had a long association with leading contemporary music groups Ensemble Modern (Frankfurt) and Ensemble Intercontemporain (Paris), where he served as assistant conductor at the beginning of his career and now prolifically collaborates as a guest conductor and curator.

Newly appointed conductor in residence of Klangforum Wien, 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 assistant professor of orchestral studies and contemporary music at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, where he was 2019 Teacher of the Year. 

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, Leopold Stokowski, James de Priest, Marin Alsop, Michael Tilson Thomas, and others. 

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.