"Kaziboni was no mere bar counter. Not only was he clear and commanding, corralling his often-diffuse forces with ease, he gave each work a sense of purpose through a host of interpretive and emotional insights."
-musical america
press
January 22, 2023: Vimbayi Kaziboni Wins 2024 Ditson Conductor’s Award
“The Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University established the Conductor’s Award in 1945. It is the oldest continuing award honoring conductors for distinguished contributions to American music. Previous recipients include David Zinman, Alan Gilbert, George Manahan, Leonard Bernstein, Cliff Colnot, Marin Alsop, Oliver Knussen, James Baker and Brad Lubman. When hearing of the award, Kaziboni said, “I am entirely blown away and humbled by this unexpected news! What an incredible honor. I am at a loss for words.”
“Marcos Balter, Fritz Reiner Professor of Musical Composition at Columbia University said, ‘Maestro Kaziboni's contributions to not only the dissemination but also the artistic broadening of contemporary American concert music are exemplary. His superior artistry, erudition, and technical prowess as a conductor, his advocacy of worthy yet underrepresented voices, and his unwavering commitment to artistic excellence and creative boldness continue to elevate the entire field in profound and transformative ways.’”
Augusta Read Thomas, Distinguished Professor of Composition at the University of Chicago and founder of the University’s Center for Contemporary Composition added “Vimbayi Kaziboni is a luminous, nuanced, expressive conductor. Unique is his embodied and intelligent wisdom related to musical flow, form, tempo, phrasing, pitch, harmony, rhythm, articulation, dynamic-sculpting, timbre, style, and phrasing, all of which are allied to his empathetic, vivid, and inspired ensemble leading, and further allied to his imagination for sonic possibilities. Vimbayi’s world-class skill set renders spectacular, ever-compelling performance experiences for everyone.”
-Columbia University
November 22, 2023: Conductors in Residence: Elena Schwarz & Vimbayi Kaziboni
“In Elena Schwarz and Vimbayi Kaziboni, we have gained two visionary, musically driving forces for the ensemble who will accompany us as artistic partners on an equal footing and strengthen us in our search for the new and yet undiscovered. Their remarkable musical sensibility fits perfectly with our ambition to inspire audiences and the world of music with vibrant and inspiring performances“ [said Benedikt Leitner, Klangforum Wien Spokesperson]
Vimbayi Kaziboni on his new role: "I am honored to join Klangforum Wien as Conductor in Residence. To quote my grandmother: ‘Great journeys don’t happen in shallow waters. Only in the depths.’ And this is where I find myself with Klangforum Wien today. Together, I look forward to exploring even deeper the vibrant landscape of contemporary musical life, expanding the boundaries and the reach of our art form, all the while bringing my passion for human understanding and human connection to the heart of our musical practice.”
-Klangforum Wien
November 10, 2023: Review: With Premieres, an Orchestra Keeps Facing Forward
“Kaziboni and the players were skilled champions of the music”
“Kaziboni shaped this hyperactive swirl with crucial attention to dynamics. At one juncture, he let the orchestra rip with a loud chord, then pared things back to cradle a crying articulation in the trumpets.”
-New York Times
October 30, 2023: BCMG/Kaziboni review — first-rate singing in a night of new music
-The Times
October 15, 2023: Ligeti 100 review – a day of riches, subtle restraint and a rogue metronome
“The Piano Concerto, meanwhile, formed the tour de force finale, with the Sinfonietta playing with great dexterity, and Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Vimbayi Kaziboni marvellously alert to its intricacies, beauties and tensions.”
-The Guardian
“Under the perfectly precise baton of Zimbabwean-born conductor Vimbayi Kaziboni, the orchestra played with an energy that was somehow at once ferocious and genial.”
-The Telegraph
October 16, 2023: Ligeti 100 review — a happy 100th birthday bash from the London Sinfonietta
“There were plenty of delights ahead in the final concert, including conductor Vimbayi Kaziboni’s continuous steady beat when all around lay crazy complexities, seemingly impossible to control.”
-The Times
October 16, 2023: The Southbank’s Ligeti centenary day celebrates a maverick composer
“The London Sinfonietta displayed its customary versatility, whether in small groups or larger ensembles conducted by Vimbayi Kaziboni. The introduction to Ligeti by Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Vimbayi Kaziboni was a model of its kind.“
-The Financial Times
“While it is exciting to see a group as esteemed as the International Contemporary Ensemble being taken in bold new directions, the breadth and scope of these ambitions will likely take more than one concert to realize. That said, George Lewis’ first curated program under the excellent direction of Vimbayi Kaziboni offered promising lines of inquiry into this vision.”
-I care if you listen
June 16, 2023: So viel Theater!
-mehrlicht
June 16, 2023: Drei Toms und eine Messermoritat
-Taz
June 10, 2023: What Happens When A.I. Enters the Concert Hall
-New York Times
June 6, 2023: Eine Ballade von „Blind Tom“
“The musicians of the Ensemble Modern acted with noticeable pleasure that evening, and conductor Vimbayi Kaziboni radiated irrepressible energy there even with his back to the audience.”
-Frankfurter Allgemeine
April 26, 2023: Sprengung der Kammer: Die 55. Tage für Neue Kammermusik in Witten
-Van Magazin
March 27, 2023: A House of Call review — the LPO bring fizz to a evening fit for a maverick
“The LPO musicians did the piece proud; so did the tireless conductor Vimbayi Kaziboni, veteran of its eight previous performances in Europe with an augmented Ensemble Modern.”
-The Times
March 26, 2023: A House of Call/Aurora Orchestra review – a dazzling parade of musical imagery
“The huge range of reference and allusion in A House of Call (the title comes from James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake) came across vividly on the ECM recording that was released last year. But in a live performance such as this UK premiere, which was superbly prepared and presented by the London Philharmonic, conducted by Vimbayi Kaziboni, the sheer subtlety and complexity of the orchestral writing seemed even more impressive.”
-The Guardian
March 6, 2023: Autour de Ligeti avec l’EIC à la Philharmonie de Paris
“Vimbayi Kaziboni, very concentrated, and the musicians of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, give this music as concise as it is unique in its style, a tremendous momentum.”
-ResMusica
-Süddeutsche Zeitung
February 19, 2023: Mehr und weniger gelungene Uraufführungen bei der musica viva
“[In Scelsi’s ‘Quatro Pezzi’] Kaziboni manages the balancing act between ‘monotony’ and musically sensitive action excellently, perhaps even better than Hans Zender in 2006 in the same piece.”
-The New Listener
December 21, 2022: La Maestra announces conducting competition jury
November 16, 2022: The mesmerising innovations of Heiner Goebbels
“Across four thematic assemblages, the Ensemble Modern Orchestra, under the direction of Vimbayi Kaziboni, draws the picture of slow, brooding saxophone and jazz brass giving way to orchestral tunings and melodic hints of Pierre Boulez’s orchestral tones.”
-The Morning Star
November 2, 2022: Vimbayi Kaziboni: Music to Change Your Life
“This openness to colour and to contemporary music has led to an acclaimed career since Kaziboni’s graduation, working with virtually every major contemporary music group across Europe and the US. They include long associations with Ensemble Modern and Ensemble Intercontemporain”
“Despite the difficulty of the material, Kaziboni is warm, direct, speaks with rapidity. He seems to know the music as if he has performed it hundreds of times. His conducting is rhythmic and clearly articulated, with a certainty of pulse, and with effortlessness in the frequently accelerating and decelerating tempos and changing time signatures of this thorny music.”
“Listening to the concert on Saturday evening, what really strikes me is the humanity of the music. Laidlow’s piece is about the gaze of the machine on the human world. …. The orchestra is interacting with its machine-gaze reflection, its own historical existence, its own refracted past. I am drawn back to Kaziboni’s spoken impulse when rehearsing, his “and– now–” upbeat. How it crystallises this interaction between past and future.”
-Bachtrack
November 1, 2022: BBC Philharmonic, Kaziboni, Manchester review - music of the future?
“Is Artificial Intelligence pointing the way to musical composition in the future? The BBC Philharmonic, conductor Vimbayi Kaziboni and colleagues at the Royal Northern College of Music made a case for it in this concert.”
-the arts desk
October 5, 2022: Quarterly Critic’s Choice: Heiner Goebbels: A House of Call
-Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik (The German Record Critics' Award)
September 15, 2022: Gesänge der Vergangenheit
“With conductor Vimbayi Kaziboni on the right edge of the stage, anyone who was lucky enough to have a direct view of him was fascinated by his presence, his energy, and the precision of his impulsive, sound-painting movements.”
-Frankfurter Allgemeine
September 13, 2022: Heiner Goebbels feiert die Fundstücke
“In this context, it seems no coincidence that the differentiated and powerfully present Vimbayi Kaziboni, born in Zimbabwe in 1988, is conducting this performance, as he has already conducted the premiere in Berlin and other performances. Vimbayi Kaziboni studied at the International Ensemble Modern Academy (IEMA), among others. In this production, the former pupil returns once again as a conductor to his former teachers, the musicians.”
-Frankfurter Allgemeine
September 8, 2022: A House of Call – fascinating work, mesmerisingly performed - 5 Stars
-The Guardian
February 1, 2022: Fünf Fragen, Fünf Antworten - Vimbayi Kaziboni
-Fono Forum
“This sound plasticity has been modeled with fervor by a particularly inspired instrumental ensemble guided by conductor, Vimbayi Kaziboni, with a round and precise gesture.”
-Tribune de Genève
“The Composers Conference is pleased to announce that Vimbayi Kaziboni has been appointed the Composers Conference Music Director and Conference Ensemble Conductor…’The Composers Conference is moving in a thrilling, distinctly new direction with the appointment of Vimbayi Kaziboni,’ says 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.’”
-Musical America
September 28, 2021: Mehr räterepublik als Orchester - Munich
-Bayerischer Rundfunk
September 23, 2021: International Contemporary Ensemble Announces New Ensemble Members
“The Ensemble first started working with Vimbayi Kaziboni in 2019 for the Mostly Mozart Festival, conducting works by Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Dai Fujikura, Ash Fure, Ann Cleare, and
more. In the fall of that same year, Kaziboni conducted the U.S. premiere of George Lewis’s Soundlines and the world premiere of Augusta Read Thomas's The Auditions as well as Copland's Appalachian Spring with Martha Graham Dance Company. 'Vimbayi has a keen ear for distinctive sound worlds and carefully balanced orchestrations. He is an inviting and generous collaborator on the podium and a thoughtful curator,’ says artistic director, Ross Karre.”
-Broadway World
September 22, 2021: Wenn ein Konzert beginnt, bevor das Publikum es merkt - Hamburg
-Hamburger Abendblatt
September 8, 2021: "A House of Call”: Wo der Blitz einschlug - Cologne
-Frankfurter Rundschau
September 2, 2021: Immer den gleichen Stein den immer gleichen Berg hinaufwälzen - Berlin
“…In the end we can imagine Heiner Goebbels, the fabulous conductor Vimbayi Kaziboni, the fantastic Ensemble Modern Orchestra, and last but not least, the listeners of this work as happy people.”
-neues deutschland
September 1, 2021: In Berlin openings, ‘Oedipe’ chills and ‘A House of Call’ thrills - Berlin
“Vimbayi Kaziboni conducted with fluidity and inexhaustible precision, at once clear and ebullient. His musicians played with evident relish and consummate virtuosity.”
-Financial Times
August 31, 2021: Das Röhren des leisen Rebells - Berlin
“Vimbayi Kaziboni, bursting with energy and Ensemble Modern, which has long been committed to the quiet rebel Goebbels, dance and rock their way through his memories for almost two hours.”
-Süddeutsche Zeitung
-neue musikzeitung
-rbb
June 6, 2021: Kagel’s “Exotica” Politisch Verstanden - Cologne
“The IEMA ensemble conducted by Vimbayi Kaziboni offered a virtuoso performance full of color richness and sound fantasy. But only the ear-deafening scream and the violent bangs of the black conductor at the end of the performance provided the political perspective: artistic and theoretical reflection on "postcolonial studies" pushed the forum for new music out of its old path.”
-Deutchlandfunk
June 1, 2021: His Brilliant Career - Los Angeles
“And now he’s done just spectacular things in the world of contemporary music. He has a profound respect for music and a profound respect for the musicians that play it. That quality in a conductor is something that musicians can sense immediately. There’s a humility about him that is so endearing and yet he’s commanding on the podium.”
-USC Thornton News
March 29, 2021: Neues aus der Afro-Diaspora - Berlin
-Süddeutsche Zeitung
March 27, 2021: Black lives matter sätter press på den klassiska musiken - Berlin
-Dagens Nyheter
March 26, 2021: Avantgarde weißer Machtkartelle - Berlin
“The result was sobering. It only appeared as a further facet in postmodern music production characterized by individualism, the difference to the normal sound of the new music festivals was slight.”
-Frankfurter Allgemeine
December 20, 2020: Essen NOW! Festival 2020: Afro-Modernism - Essen
“The Frankfurt musicians were less concerned with sociological processing of current post-colonial thinking than with reference to cultural multiplicity in new music. George Lewis helped with the selection of authors and works from Cuba, the USA, Great Britain and South Africa. Conductor Vimbayi Kaziboni, himself born in Zimbabwe, had already dealt with the subject in detail a few years ago as part of the International Ensemble Modern Academy.”
-Deutchlandfunk
December 1, 2020: London Sinfonietta: Yet Unheard - London
“All considered, Yet Unheard is an important concert, brilliantly realized by Kaziboni and London Sinfonietta. It shows the rich rewards of putting a diversity of voices to the fore – pandemic or no pandemic.”
-Corymbus
October 29, 2020: London Sinfonietta/Kaziboni review - London
“Six of those composers, all living, were featured in this excellent London Sinfonietta concert conducted by the young Zimbabwean-born Vimbayi Kaziboni, who clearly knows his way around an avant-garde score.”
-The Times (London)
September 8, 2020: Boston Lyric Opera expands artistic staff - Boston
“And while many musical organizations are shrinking their payrolls, BLO has expanded its artistic team. The conductor Vimbayi Kaziboni, a Zimbabwe-born, Boston-based new music specialist who teaches at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, will join the company in a newly created artistic adviser position. Reached by phone on Tuesday, Kaziboni, who had been slated to conduct a production of Terence Blanchard’s jazz opera “Champion,” told the Globe he expects for now to serve in a curatorial role, but an active one. His primary mission, he says, will be to advocate for underrepresented voices in classical music, and “to tell new stories and unheard stories.”
“The mobile opera truck to me is one of the most exciting projects,” he said, “because now we have the opportunity to go into communities that would otherwise not have access to opera, and to be evangelists for opera through this vehicle. In doing this, we’re also forced to ask ‘what are we offering?’ This is how we start reevaluating who we are, reevaluating our tradition, places where we need to question our practice and adapt. So I’m really inspired and excited by all of this. In getting out of this [pandemic] catastrophe, we’re also learning from the catastrophe — and reinventing ourselves.”
-Boston Globe
November 19, 2019: Martha Graham Dance Company – Appalachian Spring & The Auditions - New York
“Augusta Read Thomas’ The Auditions and Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring were played by the excellent International Contemporary Ensemble, with a refreshing crispness and clarity of tone under the baton of Vimbayi Kaziboni.”
-Dance Tabs
October 30, 2019: Soundlines: Engaging Performances from ICE - New York
“Musically, this negotiation resulted in a wide variety of compelling interactions ranging from respectful dialogues and harmonious consensus between groups to consented direction by Vimbayi Kaziboni.”
-I care if you listen
“The members of the amplified ensemble demonstrated a similar sensitivity, achieving unique timbres in unified group textures that anchored the narrative, as well as deep expressivity in the numerous solo passages that entered into dialogue with Steven Schick’s text and playing. All the while, Vimbayi Kaziboni effectively and expressively led the collective through the work.”
-I care if you listen
October 20, 2019: In Review: George Lewis’s Soundlines - New York
“Vimbayi Kaziboni — who conducted with precision and warmth — walked leisurely around the space, crouching to whisper suggestions to the various groups.”
-National Sawdust
August 7, 2019: What Do a Cimbalom, a Kamancheh, and a Shamisen Have in Common? ICE. - New York
“This kind of mixed program can feel a bit like a beauty pageant, with each composer vying for the crown. It was credit to the high quality of music-making that it would be hard to award a first prize. Either way, there should have been a medal for Zimbabwean-born conductor Vimbayi Kaziboni. Kaziboni was no mere bar counter. Not only was he clear and commanding, corralling his often-diffuse forces with ease, he gave each work a sense of purpose through a host of interpretive and emotional insights.”
-Musical America
August 4, 2019: In Review: International Contemporary Ensemble - New York
“These were winning partnerships, as was the ensemble’s interaction with Vimbayi Kaziboni, a dynamic Zimbabwean-born conductor who is currently on the orchestral studies and contemporary music faculty at Boston Conservatory. Bringing out the singular character of each piece, Kaziboni expertly balanced the myriad elements and gradations of dynamics and texture that were present in the program’s ensemble works.”
-National Sawdust
August 1, 2019: International Contemporary Ensemble at Merkin Concert Hall - New York
-New York Times
-Seen and Heard International
January 13, 2019: Review: Ensemble Modern/Kaziboni at the Queen Elizabeth Hall - London
“A delicate feeling for color, textures and sculptural form shone through Fury II and A Visible Trace, ensemble pieces quick to cast a dreamlike spell, lovingly sustained by the conductor Vimbayi Kaziboni and the musicians.”
-The Times (London)
August 26, 2018: Ruhrtriennale: Portraitkonzert Rebecca Saunders mit dem Ensemble Modern - Ruhr
“A visible Trace” provides every conceivable development space with its processes of change, proximity and distance, mutations in the sound event and kaleidoscopic fields of association, for which conductor Vimbayi Kaziboni expertly mixes the colors.”
-neue musikzeitung
March 24, 2017: Walter Smetak: Der Klangtüftler - Frankfurt
“There the Ensemble Modern, led by Vimbayi Kaziboni, performed four Smetak-inspired compositions where pumpkin drums that were stretched together, painted with a bow and moved in the manner of a rotary bender were used, along with brightly painted wooden disks, oversized washing boards, and cellos reinforced with huge sound bodies.”
-Der Tagesspiegel
February 27, 2017: Ensemble Modern/Smetak - Berlin
“Especially in this symbiosis of music and video, the precision of Ensemble Modern and the outstanding achievement of the conductor Vimbayi Kaziboni were noticeable.”
-Offenbach Post
February 26, 2017: Tak-Tak – ein Konzert in Gedenken an Walter Smetak - Berlin
"The synchronization was overwhelming; Vimbayi Kaziboni systematically coordinated, exactly, a cathartic experience and a true marriage of the beautiful recordings of the exotic instruments along with the shocking music. Both can hardly be described in words."
-Bachtrack
“I have always been very fascinated with exploring new ideas and aesthetics in art,” said Kaziboni of his strong inclination toward contemporary music. “And being a part of the process of bringing a new work of art into the world has always been a responsibility that I eagerly take on with great joy.”
-USC Thornton News
May 21, 2015: The New Philharmonic to Bring It's A Game - Omaha
-Omaha World Herald
January 6, 2015: Millard West grad leads the way to new music in Omaha
“Kaziboni likes to think of himself as an ambassador for new music in Omaha. The New Philharmonic hasn’t yet played its first show, and already he has future programs in mind. He continues to live in New York City, traveling as a freelance conductor, but he intends to spend as much time as possible in Omaha contributing to a small but growing community of musicians interested in performing new music.
‘It dawns on me, if you want to do something really important, you need to do it at home,’ he said.”
-Omaha World Herald
March 31, 2014: In Post-Minimalism Everyone Gets Along - Los Angeles
“The chamber orchestra, conducted by music director Vimbayi Kaziboni, accompanied the video imagery recorded from television news around the world. The results were entertaining, and the performance funky in a mostly charming way.”
-Los Angeles Times
September 25, 2013: IEMA Prüfungskonzert - Frankfurt
"On the podium conductor, Vimbayi Kaziboni stirred the musical drug cocktail (Romitelli’s “Professor Bad Trip”) with ease, guaranteeing a psychedelic chill."
-Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
August 10, 2013: What’s Next? Ensemble Vortex Temporum - Los Angeles
“Conductor Vimbayi Kaziboni led with an even hand and an almost laconic self-restraint, a firm guide through the labyrinth of metrical complexities.”
-The Artificialist
May 26, 2013: Buchners Frauen - Wiesbaden
"Vimbayi Kaziboni led the excellent instrumentalists with quiet, and when necessary, vigorously thrusting hands through around 75 minutes of music that breathes much lament between traditional baroque and contemporary cluster."
-Wiesbadener Kurier
April 21, 2013: Cry Out in Verschiedener Gestalt - Cologne
“In the end, everything headed for a cathartic culmination point at which the very outstanding conductor Vimbayi Kaziboni beat a bass drum in front of him, and then, turning to the audience, shook the chamber music hall with a mighty scream. Breathless silence. And consternation among the white audience that it is of all people a black man who must get frantic.”
“Maestro Kaziboni proved to be a conductor of great intensity, without distancing, maneuvering, without indifference”
-neue musikzeitung