Kalena Bovell is an American conductor. As of 2020, Bovell is the only practicing conductor in the United States with both African-American and Hispanic heritage.
Kalena Bovell | |
|---|---|
 Kalena Bovell in 2021, taken by Jamie Pratt | |
| Occupation | Conductor |
| Website | https://www.kalenabovell.com/ |
Biography
Bovell grew up in Los Angeles after her parents moved there from Panama.[1][2] She began singing at the age of nine and came to classical music when she joined a beginning strings class at age eleven. Being seven years self taught, her first private lesson occurred when she was 18.[3] Bovell played the violin.[2] She discovered her love of conducting as a sophomore at Chapman University which she
graduated from in 2009.[1][4] She attended graduate school at the Hartt School.[1]
Work
Bovell has worked as the orchestra director at the Loomis Chaffee School and in 2015 staged the Swan Princess, an adaptation of Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky.[5]
In 2017, the Chicago Tribune wrote that her skill at conducting Slavonic Dances: Opus 46 No. 2 and Opus 72 No. 7 by Antonín Dvořák was "brilliant".[6]
Bovell became the assistant conductor for the Memphis Symphony Orchestra in 2019.[5] As of 2020[update] Bovell is the only African-American and Hispanic conductor in the United States.[3]