Jaelem Bhate is a conductor and composer whose musical diversity has come to define his career. Active in both the classical and jazz genres, Jaelem is a proponent of reinvention and accessibility, and works to reimagine the role of instrumental music in the 21 st century. He was named to CBC’s 30 under 30 classical musicians in 2019.

As a conductor, Jaelem founded Symphony 21; an ensemble focused on producing concerts in non-traditional spaces for non-traditional audiences while simultaneously breaking down barriers racial, gender, and socio-economic. Jaelem was also named music director of the Vancouver Brass Collective in 2019. Guest engagements include the Vancouver and Winnipeg Symphony Orchestras, along with invitations to Italy, Romania, Portugal and Bulgaria. In 2022, he’ll lead the Guelph Symphony as a candidate for their new Artistic Director. An advocate for Canadian composers and new music, he has conducted over 20 world premieres, the majority of them by diverse, Canadian composers.

As a composer, his works have been performed by the Vancouver and Victoria Symphonies, as well as many chamber ensembles and soloists. In the jazz world, he has released two albums with the Jaelem Bhate Jazz Orchestra; on the edge, and Carmen, a reimagining of Bizet’s opera for jazz ensemble. on the edge won the 2020 Julian Award for emerging Canadian jazz excellence.

Jaelem holds a MMus in orchestral conducting and BMus in percussion performance from UBC where he studied with Dr. Jonathan Girard and Vern Griffiths respectively. He has furthered his studies with Boris Brott, Gerard Schwarz, Neil Varon, Marin Alsop, and Christian Macelaru. In Fall 2021, he will begin a new role as a sessional lecturer at UBC.