Press

Feature
August 22, 2024

5 Questions to Kazem Abdullah

I Care If You Listen
Before the start of the 2024-25 season, we caught up with Kazem to ask about his life as an artist and what he’s seeing right now in the world of new opera.
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Acclaim
August 4, 2024

Lincoln Center’s Rebranded Orchestra Settles Into Its Debut Season

The New York Times
On July 27, I went to Geffen Hall to hear Kazem Abdullah conduct a program of Brahms’s Violin Concerto, Louis W. Ballard’s “Incident at Wounded Knee” and Stravinsky’s eccentrically witty “Pulcinella.”
Ballard’s “Incident at Wounded Knee,” in its first New York City performances in 25 years, was vivid in its depiction of dignity and plaintiveness in the face of an existential threat.
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Acclaim
August 1, 2024

Concert Review: Kazem Abdullah Conducts Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center in Brahms, Stravinsky, Louis W. Ballard

Blog Critics
On Friday, guest conductor Kazem Abdullah delivered focused and insightful readings of the Brahms Violin Concerto in D Major, with soloist Benjamin Beilman; Stravinsky’s full Pulcinella ballet score; and, in its 50th anniversary year, Louis W. Ballard’s powerful 1974 lament Incident at Wounded Knee.
Something else, something less definable, stood out just as much in Mr. Abdullah’s Brahms. This was how the operatically experienced conductor made a whole universe out of the first movement. Stately pacing and a beautifully sustained fluidity allowed all the colors and voices to emerge, even before the soloist’s first entrance. Mr. Abdullah has an intense onstage style that was reflected in the judiciously calibrated dynamics and undulating rhythms that characterized the performance.
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Acclaim
May 18, 2024

From the ISO, three at the 19th-century cool-kids' table: Liszt, Saint-Saens, and Augusta Holmès

Jay Harvey Upstage
There is no piece more indicative of the kind of rational control that French art exerts over even extravagant notions than the "Organ Symphony," and Friday's performance met it on its own terms. Along with the Liszt concerto, it confirmed the guest conductor's well-honed knack for effective collaboration with apt guest soloists.
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Feature
May 14, 2024

Back Home in Indiana

Nuvo
Kazem Abdullah is leading the ISO
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Acclaim
May 13, 2024

Review: SEATTLE OPERA 60TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT & GALA at McCaw Hall

Broadway World
To commemorate both the finish to a highly successful 2023-24 season and the 60th anniversary of the company’s 1963 founding, Seattle Opera held a gala double celebration on May 11 highlighted by a star-studded ensemble of solo singers, the 52-member Seattle Opera Chorus, and members of the Seattle Symphony. Helmed by Conductor Kazem Abdullah, the cast of celebrities, many of them beloved Seattle Opera favorites, brought a stellar sheen to the festivities, with a combination of solo arias, small ensembles, full opera scenes and choruses, and orchestral numbers.
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Acclaim
March 6, 2024

“X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X” at Seattle Opera

Oregon ArtsWatch
Seattle Opera co-produced the revival of the 1986 Anthony Davis opera, revised and re-premiered in 2022 by Detroit Opera.
The orchestra included a jazz ensemble with three woodwind players who doubled on soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone sax, along with flute and bass clarinet... Abdullah has a grip on American music that combines many influences.
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Acclaim
November 14, 2023

‘X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X’Review: Songs of Struggle at the Metropolitan Opera

Wall Street Journal
Director Robert O’Hara resurrects Anthony Davis’s 1986 work about the black civil-rights leader, in a production that gives thrilling voice to a richly jazzy score.
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Acclaim
November 5, 2023

Review: Anthony Davis’s Malcolm X Opera Finally Arrives at the Met

The New York Times
“X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X,” from 1986, receives its grandest treatment yet, in a production expected to play on opera stages from coast to coast.
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Acclaim
November 5, 2023

Metropolitan Opera 2023-24 Review: X: the Life and Times of Malcolm X

Opera Wire
The Met, traditionally a bastion of opera’s classic repertoire, transformed into a forum for reflection on social justice, equal rights, and the ongoing danger of police brutality or vigilante justice that Black Americans continue to face. It was an evening with profound impact.
Here, the conductor, Kazem Abdullah, coaxed luscious and cacophonous sounds from the incomparable Met orchestra, showing it can play any form of music required... Abdullah worked tirelessly on the podium to bring the music and musicians together to form a powerful whole greater than the sum of its parts.
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Feature
October 22, 2023

10/22/23: 'The Life and Times of Malcolm X' opera, Black American Music Association

ABC News: Here and Now
"X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X" is a new opera coming to the Met in November. Kazem Abdullah, who will be conducting the groundbreaking opera, sat down with Sandra to discuss the show.
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Acclaim
April 15, 2023

San Antonio Philharmonic: Climbing the mountain

Incident Light
Abdullah, born in Indiana and reared in Ohio, is making a mark as a conductor of contemporary work, both opera (a tryptich of world premieres dealing with social issues, last month at Lyric Opera of Chicago) and orchestral (a world premiere by Dai Fujikura with the Seattle Symphony in February).
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Acclaim
March 27, 2023

Anna Deavere Smith takes a fresh step with first opera, ‘The Walkers’

The Washington Post
An opera such as “The Walkers” feels like a powerful show of opera’s ability to combine grand spectacle with intimate storytelling, and the form’s untapped potential to contribute directly and immediately to critical cultural conversations.
Conductor Kazem Abdullah admirably led the Lyric Opera Orchestra, which sounded bright and vivid and felt wrapped around the singers’ voices all evening.
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Acclaim
March 26, 2023

Review: In Chicago, an Opera Triptych Reaches for Connection

The New York Times
In Lyric’s premiere here on Friday, “Proximity,” the company gave itself an even more ambitious assignment than one new commission: three of them, by three composer-librettist pairs, sharing a single evening.
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Feature
February 4, 2023

Abdullah, Hadelich and the Seattle Symphony offer a winter-conquering musical feast

Bachtrack
A warm bond developed between debuting guest conductor Kazem Abdullah and the Seattle Symphony musicians during the course of the concert, reaching incandescence in their cloud-busting account of the Finnish composer’s Seventh Symphony.
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Acclaim
January 13, 2023

Review: Guest conductor Kazem Abdullah strikes a rich balance with the ASO

ARTS ATL
Abdullah expertly guided the ASO through the music’s emotional peaks and valleys.
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Feature
January 10, 2023

Seattle Opera announces 60th anniversary season

Seattle Opera
Sought-after conductor Kazem Abdullah, praised for his “nimbleness” and “expert guidance” (Los Angeles Times), returns to Seattle after his debut in 2021’s filmed Tosca
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Acclaim
October 23, 2022

Commentary: Redemption, writ large, in L.A. Opera’s divine ‘Omar’

Los Angeles Times
Conductor Kazem Abdullah expertly guides the orchestra through African, Muslim and American styles.
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Acclaim
September 15, 2022

Review: After 36 Years, a Malcolm X Opera Sings to the Future

NY Times
Guided sensitively by the conductor Kazem Abdullah, the music goes on to swerve from punchy modernism to lyrical lushness, from peaceful worship to nervous energy and stentorian forcefulness.
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Acclaim
July 22, 2022

Review: A New Opera Tells an Original Story With an Open Heart

New York Times
The orchestra is conducted with calm confidence by Kazem Abdullah — the result is passionate, but also clear, focused and humble.
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Acclaim
March 23, 2022

The appalling miscarriage of justice: ‘Central Park Five’ at Portland Opera

Oregon ArtsWatch
Absolutely stunning. Riveting. The best and most ambitious production Portland Opera has presented in my 31 years of reviewing.
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Acclaim
February 22, 2022

Copland, Eastman works provide the highlights to close “Clarinet Visions”

South Florida Classical Review
Abdullah drew brilliant and precise playing from the ensemble and displayed real affinity for Copland’s distinctive Americana idiom.
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Feature
February 2, 2022

Lyric Opera is back at full blast: 2022-23 season begins with Verdi and concludes with a return for ‘West Side Story’

Chicago Tribune
”Proximity” is conducted by Kazem Abdullah in his Lyric debut
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Feature
February 1, 2022

Lyric Opera of Chicago Announces 2022/23 Season Featuring Two World Premieres

Broadway World
Proximity is conducted by Kazem Abdullah in his Lyric debut; Lyric Special Projects Advisor Renée Fleming is the project's curator.
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Feature
September 16, 2021

A Malcolm X Opera Will Come to the Met

NY Times
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Feature
September 16, 2021

The Metropolitan Opera announces the company premiere of Anthony Davis’s X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, to be presented in the 2023–24 season

Metropolitan Opera
Baritone Will Liverman stars in the title role of the opera, which will be conducted by Kazem Abdullah
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Acclaim
January 13, 2019

Ein romantisches Kunstwerk von spiritueller Schönheit

Thüringer Allgemeine
Concert: Thüringer Philharmonie, 10. Jan 2019 Kulturhaus Gotha, Germany
"Ein romantisches Kunstwerk von spiritueller Schönheit"
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Feature
October 31, 2018

GMC Commercial Precision Performance

GMC
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Acclaim
May 31, 2018

Brokeback Mountain

Opera News
Opera: Brokeback Mountain, 30. May 2018, New York City Opera, New York, USA
"Conductor Kazem Abdullah was a rock for his cast and orchestra"
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Acclaim
May 21, 2018

Review: Symphony revels in American classics

The Florida Times - Union
Concert: "American Landscapes", 22-24 May 2018, Jacksonvile Symphonie, Jacksonville Florida, USA
"The standout performance of the entire season"
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Acclaim
March 26, 2018

Frankfurter Staatsorchester spielt Debussy

Märkische Allgemeine
Concert: Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester, 25. Mar 2018, Potsdam, Germany
"Dirigent Kazem Abdullah bringt das Orchester in Fluss"
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Feature
October 5, 2016

Social Connection Through Music

TEDxTalk RWTH Aachen
In his talk, Kazem Abdullah makes use of several examples of performances to show just how well the art of opera can transmit powerful emotions and help connect through music.
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Acclaim
April 30, 2014

La Clemenza di Tito, Opéra national de Lorraine, Nancy, France – review

Financial Times
The evening’s reward comes from Kazem Abdullah’s superb, sensitively detailed conducting.
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