With her distinctive voice as maestra, speaker, and poet, critics praise Panamanian-American conductor Kalena Bovell as “one of the brightest stars in classical music.” (Channel 3 News, Connecticut). Propelled by a steadfast commitment to musical excellence and community access, Bovell has rapidly ascended to international prominence. In 2023, she made history as the first Black woman to conduct an opera in Canada; in 2024, she earned the Sphinx Medal of Excellence—the highest honor bestowed by the Sphinx Organization—and was also named a 2022-2024 Awardee of the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship.

Bovell’s 2024-2025 season reflects her increasing global demand, making debuts both at home with Opera Philadelphia conducting the music of historic Black composer Joseph Bologne, and abroad to South Africa where she will lead the Johannesburg Philharmonic and KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra. Other debuts across North America this season include Orchestre classique de Montréal, Billings Symphony, the Colorado Springs Philharmonic and the Sarasota Orchestra; Bovell also returns to conduct the Louisville Orchestra and the Victoria Symphony in Canada. Following her engagement with the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s YOLA National Festival in July 2024, Bovell will go coast-to-coast in the 2024-2025 season to continue her steadfast commitment to the next generation of musicians. In addition to beginning her conducting residency at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, she will join the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for Carnegie Hall’s Link Up initiative, lead the 2025 Florida All-State Symphony Orchestra as clinician, and mentor young musicians at the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute.

One of orchestral music’s marquee maestras, Bovell has blazed a formidable trail in just the past few years as a leading amplifier and catalyst of Black artistic excellence. After leading Chineke! Orchestra onstage at the BBC Proms, Bovell earned critical praise as a featured conductor on Chineke!’s 2022 album—Coleridge-Taylor, a celebration of the eponymous African-British composer. In addition, Bovell has twice worked with the Kennedy Center as conductor in their landmark artistic initiative, “Reframing the Narrative”, which celebrates the artistry, leadership, and impact of Black ballet dancers.

Much of Bovell’s artistic philosophy stems from her relatively delayed entry to the classical music world. Though Kalena showed promise as a violinist, a lack of musical resources meant her first private lesson would come at 18. Her experience far behind the typical conservatory-trained musician, Kalena found a new home as a conductor and worked six jobs to fund the many plane tickets, workshops, and conducting lessons required to excel. In hopes of motivating others like her, she has shared her story with the BBC, the League of American Orchestras, the Sphinx Organization, and the III International Women Conductor’s Symposium, among many other radio, webinar, and podcast appearances.

A Los Angeles native, Bovell received a Master of Music and Graduate Professional Diploma in Orchestral Conducting from The Hartt School, where she studied with Edward Cumming. She holds a Bachelor of Music Education from the College of the Performing Arts at Chapman University, which honored her as a Distinguished Alumni in 2021. Outside conducting, Bovell is a published poet and has increasingly interwoven her poetry with her music career. Her original poem, „Tethered Voices,“ was performed by the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra and set to music by James Lee III. 

Kalena makes her home in Memphis, Tennessee, where she enjoys cooking, writing poetry, weight training, and trying new pizzerias.