Yoel Gamzou was born to an artistic family and grew up in New York, London and Tel Aviv. He had the honor of being Carlo Maria Giulini’s final student. Gamzou was appointed Generalmusikdirektor of the Theater Bremen for the seasons 2017/18 - 2021/22. During this time he has conducted a new production of Shostakovich’s Lady MacBeth of the Mtsensk District, followed by a new production of Die Fledermaus, Die tote Stadt, L’Etoile and Der Rosenkavalier, as well as a revival of Carmen. During his last season in Bremen he will lead the new production of Jenufa and the world premiere of Lampson / von Keyserling's Die Wellen.
In 2020 Gamzou made his debut at the Bavarian State Opera with the new production 7 Deaths of Maria Callas staged by Marina Abramovic and returned in 2021 with Wolf-Ferrari's Il Segreto di Susanna and Lehár's Schön ist die Welt and he also made his debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with Tosca. Gamzou is Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the International Mahler Orchestra (IMO), an ensemble he founded in 2006. Previously, he worked as first conductor and deputy general music director at the Kassel State Orchestra. Guest engagements have taken him to orchestras such as the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the German Symphony Orchestra Berlin, the German Radio Philharmonic Saarbrücken, the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra, the St. Gallen Symphony Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
Gamzou is a winner of the ECHO Klassik Award 2017 in the Young Artist of the Year category and the EFC Princess Margriet Award for Culture from the European Cultural Foundation.