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Naimah Bilal

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has named Naimah Bilal as artistic administrator.

   It will be like a homecoming for Bilal, who served as artistic coordinator for the CSO from 2006-08, before being named one of five 2009 Orchestra Management Fellows by the League of American Orchestras.

   As artistic administrator, the Ft. Washington, Maryland native will move from “artist care” (see “Not All Orchestra Stars Onstage” in Features on this site) to overseeing programming for CSO classical and community engagement concerts.

   As a fellow of the League’s Orchestra Management Program, the country’s premier training program for orchestra leaders, she was in residence with the Aspen Music Festival and School, the New York Philharmonic and the Memphis and Atlanta Symphony Orchestras.  She was instrumental in planning and implementing the Atlanta Symphony’s two-week Musica Ardiente festival and Henry Fogel Commissioning Consortium, as well as other initiatives during the year.

   While in Cincinnati (2006-08), Bilal co-founded a chamber music series, Chamber Music Remix, with the Elementz Hip-Hop Youth Arts Center in Over-the-Rhine and performed in the Elementz Quartet.  A trained violist, she holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in viola performance from Indiana University and the Cleveland Institute of Music.

   Before coming to the CSO, Bilal held positions with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Cleveland International Piano Competition.  She is also an alumna of the National Symphony Orchestra’s Fellowship program.