These concerts are the North Carolina Symphony debut for Kazem Abdullah.

Kazem Abdullah opened the 2023/24 season leading a
new production of Anthony Davis’ X: The Life and Times
of Malcolm X at the Metropolitan Opera, a production
The New York Times called “an American classic.” The season also includes debuts with the Naples Philharmonic and Kansas City Symphony and return engagements with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and Seattle Opera.

Among his orchestral credits are the Indianapolis, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Cincinnati symphony orchestras, Oregon Symphony, and Seattle Symphony. In addition to his symphony engagements, he has conducted the American premiere of Charles Wuorinen’s opera Brokeback Mountain, Puccini’s Tosca for Seattle Opera, and Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel for Cape Town Opera. Committed to expanding the American repertoire, he has led the premieres of American operatic works including Omar, by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels.

Born in Indianapolis and raised in Dayton, Ohio, Abdullah currently lives in Nürnberg, Germany, and served as Generalmusikdirektor in Aachen, Germany, from 2012 to 2017. He conducted over 25 operas and collaborated with musicians such as Johannes Moser and Augustin Hadelich. He has also served as Assistant Conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, where he made his debut in 2009 conducting Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice.

Trained as a clarinetist, Abdullah has performed extensively as an orchestral musician, chamber musician, and soloist. He spent two seasons as a member of the New World Symphony and performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra, as well as the chamber ensembles Trio Wanderer and the Auryn Quartet.

Abdullah has worked with student orchestras at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, The Juilliard School, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa, among others. He was awarded the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award by his alma mater, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.