Lamar Elias
Conductor
Revealed at the 2026 La Maestra International Competition at the Philharmonie de Paris, Palestinian conductor Lamar Elias was awarded the Paris Mozart Orchestra Musicians’ Prize and a Special Mention from the ECHO Committee (European Concert Hall Organisation).
Artistic and Music Director of the Toulouse Student Symphony Orchestra from 2023 to 2026, Lamar has been Principal Conductor of the Palestine Youth Orchestra since 2024 and Associate Conductor of the Mediterranean Youth Orchestra for the 2025 and 2026 seasons as part of the Aix-en-Provence Festival.
Selected for the Philharmonie de Paris’ “Conductors for Démos” programme, she was appointed Associate Conductor of the Démos Toulouse Métropole Orchestra for the 2025–2026 season.
In recent seasons, Lamar has worked with the Lille National Orchestra, the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the Paris Chamber Orchestra, the Nürnberger Symphoniker, the Bodensee Philharmonie, the Pärnu City Orchestra, the Brașov Philharmonic, the Tunisian National Orchestra, and the Mégrine Symphony Orchestra at the Carthage International Festival. Deeply committed to music education and outreach, she collaborates regularly with numerous youth orchestras and regional conservatories in France and abroad.
Trained in the tradition of the Ilya Musin conducting school under Sabrié Bekirova and Tugan Sokhiev, she took part in the international conducting academy “Les Franco-Russes – Festival” with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. She has also received guidance from conductors such as Johannes Schlaefli and Paavo Järvi, notably through the Järvi Conducting Academy and the Conductor’s Academy with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. In May 2026, she assisted Daniel Harding during a concert series with the Orchestre de Paris.