Internationally renowned conductor returns to local, musical roots

Kazem Abdullah returned to his musical roots this weekend, as he made his conducting debut with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and May Festival Chorus.
 
Abdullah currently serves as generalmusikdirektor in Aachen, Germany, but he is a former member of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra.
 
“I was living in Dayton [during my time with the CSYO], but all my training basically happened in Cincinnati,” Abdullah says. “I’d always wanted to play in a youth orchestra year-round.”
 
So from 1993-94 and 1995-96, Abdullah developed his talents as a clarinetist and played alongside other talented students and then-members of the CSO.
 
According to Abdullah, his time with the CSYO was not only musically engaging, but also healing.
 
When he was 11 years old and at Interlochen’s music camp, he received news that his brother had been mugged, shot and killed.
 
“It was a difficult time for me and my family, so it was a good thing to give my life a little bit more structure,” Abdullah says.
 
It helped Abdullah keep his mind occupied and focused on his passion, and it was also a formative experience for him, he says, as it was an opportunity to further his knowledge and continue on a path that would enable him to pursue music as a career and become an international talent.
 
“I’ve always loved Cincinnati,” Abdullah says. “I rehearsed with the CSO when I was a kid in the youth orchestra and always loved them, so to be able to actually work with them, it’s a really great honor and really great pleasure as a woodwind player.” 

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