Zach Manzi, host

Zach Manzi is a musician, speaker and service designer based in Austin, Texas.

In 2017 Zach co-founded the ensemble Conduit, which was recently in residence at the Frost School of Music at University of Miami as the Knight Foundation Fellowship Ensemble for two seasons. In this fellowship, Conduit pioneered a creative approach to problem solving called Audience Experience Design, a service design framework that Zach and New World Symphony Creative Director Siggi Bachmann created for performing artists and arts organizations. This project resulted in the production of an alternative concert format called Care, a musical experience for an intimate audience to reflect on the idea of care in all aspects of their lives – for ourselves, one another and the planet.

During this time, Zach was also the bass clarinetist of Nu Deco Ensemble, Miami’s 21st-century genre-bending orchestra, which performs original works, classics and collaborations with artists such as Ben Folds, Kishi Bashi and Jacob Collier. He also wrote blog content for Nu Deco, interviewing musicians from the ensemble and composers such as Holly Harrison and Tanner Porter.

Before these positions, Zach played three seasons as a Clarinet Fellow at New World Symphony (NWS), where he performed orchestral and chamber music programs and produced performance and educational experiences for new audiences. His final project at NWS, transmuse, was a musical experience created in collaboration with transgender community in South Florida to celebrate the trans experience, sourcing stories from trans folks and fusing them with music to create a space to bring the community together. Zach also designed and produced a full-orchestra concert for NWS called Dimensions, an interactive performance geared toward an audience of 20- to 30-somethings that had no previous experience with classical music.

Zach has led service design workshops at NWS, Venture Café Miami, Maven Leadership Collective, Frost School of Music and Cleveland Institute of Music, and has been invited to speak at national and international events about the future of classical music, including the Classical:NEXT conference in Rotterdam and TEDxCoconutGrove in Miami. He was also invited to host the 2019 IDAGIO and SONOS #classicaltakeover series in New York City, where he interviewed Grammy Award-winning artists like Tim Martyn of the Boston Symphony and pianist/composer Conrad Tao.

Zach received his bachelor of music degree from The Juilliard School and is currently on the support team at Airtable. He occasionally writes about the future of classical music on Medium, often enjoys yoga and hiking, and always eats plant-based.

Musicians of the New World Symphony

A laboratory for the way music is taught, presented and experienced, the New World Symphony consists of 77 young musicians who are granted fellowships lasting up to three years. The fellowship program offers in-depth exposure to traditional and modern repertoire, professional development training and personalized experiences working with leading guest conductors, soloists and visiting faculty. 

NWS Fellows take advantage of the innovative performance facilities and state-of-the art practice and ensemble rooms of the Frank Gehry-designed New World Center, the campus of the New World Symphony and home of the Knight New Media Center.

In the hopes of joining NWS, more than 1,150 recent music school and conservatory graduates compete for available fellowships each year. The Fellows are selected for this highly competitive, prestigious opportunity based on their musical achievement and promise, as well as their passion for the future of classical music.