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Shem Guibbory, an integral part of DIA’s artistic administration, combines his in-depth creativity and production experience with an extensive background in the performing arts. His abilities ensure the integrity of the Company’s artistic vision in all areas, including opera, orchestral, conductors, recordings, and chamber music.  He brings his expertise to every aspect of the Corporation. 

 

An internationally acclaimed violinist, Guibbory is an award winning soloist and chamber musician who has created an indelible mark on the face of today’s New Music industry as a talented performer, creative producer, and successful entrepreneur. 

 

Having founded his own company, Innovative Music Programs in 2002, Mr. Guibbory developed a series of original musical programs with a fast-growing number of affiliate artists. Each program has been designed to offer an opportunity for performers to serve global communities and organizations through specifically designed projects, recordings, and performances.

 

“By nature and by choice, I look for the commonality in all things musical and artistic in our culture and all cultures,” he says. “Those things that tie us together as human beings are part of the driving force in the creative process. I love creating this way.”

 

Throughout his career, Mr. Guibbory has looked for and found ways to use new music as a means of bringing mutual understanding to the global community. With co-creator and director Margaret Booker and writer Robert Schenkkan, he created the musical fable, A Night at the Alhambra Café.

 

Mr. Guibbory was the original violinist in the Steve Reich Ensemble and has performed recitals and chamber music throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe. He has also recorded five CDs with Anthony Davis, including   For the past 18 years, Mr. Guibbory has been a member of the First Violin Section of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and has appeared as soloist with the New York Philharmonic, the Beethoven Halle Orchestra, the Kansas City Symphony and the Symphony of the New World.

 

He has earned fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation (Bellagio), the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Spain’s Centre por Ars y Natura and has been a faculty member of the Chamber Music Conference and Composer's Forum of the East for the past two decades, during which he served as Music Director for nine consecutive years. He has twice been honored with the ASCAP/CMA Award for Adventurous Programming.

 

He has premiered over 60 new compositions, of which 30 were written expressly for him. Additionally, he has collaborated with numerous dance companies, has served as co-director of NovEnsemble with choreographer Joan Lombardi, and performed with Belgian choreographer Anne-Theresa de Keersmaker.  Close associates have included such extraordinary composers as Ornette Coleman, Muhal Richard Abrams, Jeffrey Levine, Earl Howard, Anthony Davis, Stephen Reich and Gerry Hemingway.

 

His recordings can be found on the ECM, Gramavision, Opus 1, DG, Albany, Bridge, MSR Classics and CRI labels.  Mr. Guibbory, who made his recital debut at New York City’s Alice Tully Hall in 1988, has studied with Broadus Erle, Romuald Tecco, Evelyn Read and Sophie Feuermann.