Omar El Jamali
Conductor
Biography
Moroccan-born conductor Omar El Jamali first gained international recognition as a finalist and prizewinner in several prestigious competitions, including the Antal Dorati Conducting Competition, the BMI Bucharest Symphony Orchestra Competition, and the Erich Bergel Competition. In April 2024, he further drew international attention as a quarter-finalist in the renowned Malko Competition. Following this, he was invited to serve as Assistant Conductor to Cristian Macelaru at the Orchestre National de France, taking part in major projects alongside artists such as Beatrice Rana, Alexandre Kantorow, Sarah Nemtanu, and the Janoska Ensemble.
In summer 2024, he was selected as a Conducting Fellow at both the Cabrillo Festival in Santa Cruz and the George Enescu Festival in Bucharest. His appearance at the Enescu Festival led to a reinvitation for the 2025 edition, where he made his debut as a featured conductor with the Mihail Jorai Philharmonic Orchestra of Bacău.
In the 2026/27 season, Omar returns twice to the Mihail Jora Philharmonic Orchestra of Bacău, while another reinvitation takes him back to MAV Szimfonikus Budapest. In Spring 2026, he makes his debut with the Orchestre National Avignon Provence and the Filarmonica Botoșani. He recently returned to Morocco to conduct the Orchestre Philharmonique du Maroc, becoming one
of the very first Moroccan conductors of his generation to build an international career while maintaining an active presence in his home country.
Omar has also worked as assistant conductor with renowned orchestras including the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the George Enescu Philharmonic, assisting conductors such as James Gaffigan, Daniel Harding, and Santtu-Matias Rouvali, and collaborating with soloists
including Nemanja Radulović, Alexandra Conunova, and Anne-Sophie Mutter.
He studied Film Scoring at Berklee College of Music under Claudio Ragazzi and Eric Reasoner, and pursued conducting studies at L’École Normale de Musique de Paris and La Schola Cantorum de Paris. He is currently enrolled in an *Executive Master in Communication at Sciences Po Paris, in collaboration with McGill University. Alongside this, he is the General Director and co-founder of the Académie de Direction de Neuilly et Grand Paris, a conducting
academy based in Paris which collaborates regularly with the Orchestre Pasdeloup, Orchestre Colonne, and Orchestre Lamoureux.
Press
“El Jamali delicately conducted Doráti’s lyrical piece for string orchestra and oboe, “Notturno”: Andante (1926), followed by an exuberant, often sumptuous performance of two movements from Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6. Omar demonstrated a mastery of the myriad moment-by-moment demands of each moment on the podium – embodying both the composers’ most spiritual and dynamic intentions.”
— Papageno.com, Hongrie
« El Jamali led Doráti’s lyrical piece for string orchestra and oboe: “Notturno”: Andante (1926) with delicacy, followed by an exuberant, if often sumptuous, execution of two movements from Tchaikovski’s Symphony No. 6. Omar demonstrated mastery of a million different split-second demands of each moment on the podium – an embodiment of the composers’ most spiritual as well as kinetic intentions. »
Papageno.com Hongrie