Kelly Zimba is the newly appointed Principal Flute of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Previously a Flute Fellow at the New World Symphony, she has performed with the Pittsburgh, Detroit, Palm Beach, and Battle Creek Symphony Orchestras, and was a two-time Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center.  In October 2017, she appeared on the cover of Flute Talk Magazine with a full length feature interview.

 

As a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician, Ms. Zimba has performed around the world in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, and the Teatro del Lago in Frutillar, Chile.  In 2017, she performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony on its European Festivals Tour, and has also toured Chile with the YOA Orchestra of the Americas.  

 

In addition to performing, Kelly is on faculty at NYO Canada and recently served for two years on the faculty of the Sitka Fine Arts Camp in Sitka, Alaska, where she was an artist-in-residence in January 2018. She has been a mentor for the Toronto Summer Music Festival's Community Academy, and also taught instrumental music at Belvoir Terrace in Lenox, Massachusetts in addition to teaching privately across the United States.  As a New World Symphony fellow, Kelly traveled twice to Medellín, Colombia, where she coached flute students at the Iberacademy and University of Antioquia.

 

Originally from Pittsburgh, Ms. Zimba completed her graduate studies at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, and received bachelor’s degrees in flute performance and music education from the University of Michigan. She is greatly indebted to all of her teachers, most especially Leone Buyse and Amy Porter.