BLO Artistic Advisor and Boston Conservatory faculty member, Vimbayi Kaziboni joins a group of legendary conductors who have received the esteemed honor of the Ditson Conductor's Award. Columbia University has announced that Vimbayi Kaziboni has won the 2024 Alice M. Ditson Fund Conductor’s Award, a prestigious honor recognizing conductors who have a distinguished record of performing and championing contemporary American music. 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. The Zimbabwean-born conductor becomes the 79th recipient of what is [...]

Even with centuries of classical music available to us, Black composers and their works are still underrepresented, both on the opera and concert stage. It’s time we celebrate and bring in the voices of Black composers who have helped influence our musical landscape! In February, we celebrate Black History Month, a time for us to honor the triumphs and struggles of African Americans throughout U.S. history. Even though we are only highlighting five composers in this blog post, there have been hundreds of notable Black composers throughout American history, and thousands more we may never have the opportunity to [...]

Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799) was born into one of the most contradictory eras of modern European history. On the one hand, the valorous ideals of the Enlightenment caught fire during Bologne’s lifetime, as Enlightenment thinkers such as Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) called for the individual to pursue knowledge and to expand their worldviews. On the other, the horrifying principles of scientific racism, coupled with the booming market of the transatlantic slave trade, unleashed violence upon the Atlantic world in a manner that remains unprecedented. Joseph Bologne arrived into the world when, as Henry Louis Gates Jr. writes, “Enlightenment-era [...]