Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Toronto, CAN
Kelly Zimba joined the Toronto Symphony Orchestra as Principal Flute in 2017. Previously a flute fellow at the New World Symphony, she has performed with the Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Palm Beach Symphony Orchestras, and performs with the Lakes Area Music Festival Orchestra in Brainerd, Minnesota during the summer season. As a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician, Ms. Zimba has performed around the world in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, Royal Albert Hall, and the Teatro del Lago in Frutillar, Chile. She was featured on the cover of Flute Talk Magazine in October 2017.
In addition to performing, Kelly has served on the faculties of NYO Canada, Toronto Summer Music Community Academy, and the Sitka Fine Arts Camp in Sitka, Alaska, where she was an artist-in-residence in January 2018. She also taught instrumental music at Belvoir Terrace in Lenox, Massachusetts, in addition to teaching privately across the United States and Canada. Together with TSO Principal Harpist Heidi Van Hoesen Gorton and their newly formed Steel6ix duo, Kelly participates in the Health Arts Society of Ontario’s ‘Concert in Care’ program, bringing music to long-term care residents throughout Toronto.
Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Kelly 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.