Indian-American conductor and pianist Kamal Khan combines an active performing career with a passionate commitment to the globalization of operatic training, He has performed with many opera companies around the world including the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Dallas Opera, Baltimore Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in Brazil, Teatro de las Bellas Artes in Mexico City, Oper der Stadt Bonn and the Staatstheater Schwerin, Germany, Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, Osaka festival Hall and Aichi Prefectural Arts Theater , Nagoya, Japan; Cape Town Opera, Opera South Africa, Opera de Puerto Rico, Seoul Arts Center and Asian Cultural Center, Korea; Beijing Hall; Jiangsu Center for the Performing Arts, Nanjing and Suzhou Culture & Arts Center, China and the International Festivals of Cervantino in Mexico and Santander, Mérida, La Coruña, Tenerife and Málaga in Spain. Additionally he has conducted the Jerusalem Symphony, Buenos Aires Philharmonic, Beijing Symphony, Shanghai Symphony, São Paulo Philharmonic, Balearic Islands Philharmonic, Oviedo Philharmonic, the Spanish Radio and Television Orchestra, Cape Town Philharmonic, Kwazulu-Natal Philharmonic and the Orchestra of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields
As a recitalist and accompanist Kamal Khan has appeared in venues such as Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall and Weill Hall in New York, The Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Gran Teatro Liceu and the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, Palais Garnier in Paris, Suntory Hall and Casals Hall in Tokyo, the Palau de Congressos in Andorra and the Baxter Concert Hall and Montecasino in South Africa with singers such as Marcelo Alvarez, Nadine Benjamin, Harolyn Blackwell, Nico Castel, Justino Diaz, Placido Domingo, Michael Fabiano, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Larisa Martinez, Angela Meade, Matthew Polenzani, Juan Pons, Herman Prey, Nadine Sierra, Sir Bryn Terfel, Veronica Villarroel. Pretty Yende and violinist Joshua Bell.
Prof. Khan is Visiting Extraordinary Professor at North West University in South Africa, he is a founding member of Opera for Peace, Artistic Director of Classical Vocal Arts International and Director of the Taller para Cantantes in Santo Domingo DR. He is Affiliate Faculty at the Royal Opera Covent Garden Jette Parker Young Artists Program, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, the Metropolitan Opera Lindeman Young Artists Program and the Voices of South Africa Festival and Competition, He was the Director of the Opera School at the University of Cape Town and Resident Conductor and Chorus Master of the Palm Beach Opera where he founded the Resident Artist Program. He was also Resident Conductor of the Opera Festival in Tenerife, Head of Faculty of the International School of Vocal Study of the Balearic Islands and Artistic Director of the Mediterranean Opera Studio and Festival. Additionally, he has worked with the Juilliard School. Mannes College of Music, Manhattan School of Music in New York, the International Vocal Arts Institute, European Center for Vocal Arts, Chautauqua School of Music, Opera Theatre of St Louis, Ravinia Festival and Glimmerglass Opera. He has given masterclasses at the Opera Hogskolan, the University of the Arts in Stockholm, the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin, the University of Michigan, and Georgia State University in Atlanta.
A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music Kamal Khan was the youngest Assistant Conductor at the Metropolitan Opera and during his ten year position he collaborated with such conductors as James Levine, Nello Santi, James Conlon, Julius Rudel, Christian Thielemann, Carlo Rizzi and Marco Armiliato and singers Teresa Stratas, Plácido Domingo, Renata Scotto, Sherrill Milnes, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Mirella Freni, Luciano Pavarotti, Marilyn Horne, Renée Fleming, Carlo Bergonzi, Mariella Devia, Tatiana Troyanos. Ghena Dimitrova, Aprile Millo, Nicolai Ghiaurov, and Bonaldo Giaiotti to name a few. While at the MET he was responsible for the musical preparation of many new productions including the telecasts of Schenk / Schneider-Siemssen’s complete Ring des Nibelungen, del Monaco’s La Fanciulla del West, Stiffelio, La Forza del Destiono, Simon Boccanegra and Madama Butterlfy, Zeffielli’s Don GIovanni, La Traviata and Cavalleria Rusticana , Joel’s Andrea Chenier, the company premiere of I Lombardi and the world premieres of Glass’ The Voyage and Corgliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles.
Some of the works he has conducted include Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro, Cosi fan tutte, Die Zauberflöte, Norma, I Puritani, La Sonnambula, Maria Stuarda, Lucia di Lammermoor, La Favorita, L’Elisir d’amore, Tosca, Rigoletto, La Boheme, Il Tritico, Turandot, La Traviata, Nabucco, Un Ballo in Maschera, Carmen, Don Carlo, Werther, Mefistofele, Cavalleria Rusticana, I Pagliacci, Die Fliegende Holländer, Ariadne auf Naxos, Porgy and Bess, Die Fledermaus, The Rake’s Progress, The Merry Widow and the African premieres of Il Viaggio a Reims and Dead Man Walking and the world premieres of Five:20 Operas Made in South Africa and Four:30 Operas Made in South Africa.
A native of Washington DC, Kamal Khan was the recipient from the first National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts prize, he is also received prizes and grants from the National Association of Music Teachers and the National Symphony Orchestra . The PBS- Channel 13 documentary “I Live to Sing” based on his work in South Africa won the 2014 EMMY for best cultural program : http://www.thirteen.org/program-content/i-live-to-sing-full-program/