Conductor Jaime Morales-Matos is widely recognized for combining precision, passion, intelligence, and invigoration. Born in Puerto Rico, he graduated from Indiana University with a Bachelor of Music Degree and an Artist Diploma in Trombone, the first Artist Diploma granted to a brass player. He furthered his training at Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music under Christopher Zimmerman and Gerhard Samuel, receiving his Master of Music. He then completed further studies in Vienna under Maestro Hans Graf, where he received a Diploma in Conducting.

In addition to this formal education, he studied with Sergiu Celibidache in Munich and Harold Farberman in Bulgaria. In 2000, Morales-Matos attended the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen, working closely with David Zinman, Jorma Panula, James Conlon, and Robert Spano. He has also participated in seminars with James Levine, Leonard Bernstein, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Gustav Meir, and Roselín Pabón.

Morales-Matos has conducted widely in the United States, including the Houston Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, Bangor Symphony, Clermont Philharmonic, Central Ohio Symphony, and Cincinnati Philharmonic. He has also conducted in Germany (Munich Philharmonic), Spain (Galicia Symphony), Austria (Tokyo Symphony on Tour), Bulgaria (Varna Philharmonic, National Radio Symphony, Sofia), Ecuador (National Symphony in Quito and Guayaquil Symphony), Venezuela (Venezuela Symphony, Simon Bolivar Symphony), Dominican Republic (National Symphony), as well as in his native Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico Symphony). In 2003 he conducted his debut at the prestigious Casals Festival (with members of the New York Philharmonic); the concert was recorded and broadcast on public television.

In 2007, the American Symphony Orchestra League selected him as one of the most promising young conductors. He participated in the Bruno Walter Conductor Preview held with the Jacksonville Symphony in Florida.

Jaime Morales-Matos was appointed Music Director of the Central Ohio Symphony Orchestra in June 2002. With this orchestra, he has enjoyed great success in a broad range of programming. Under Morales-Matos’s baton, the Central Ohio Symphony has reached new artistic heights by implementing innovative programming that emphasizes welcoming newcomers and loyalists alike, building on its reputation for championing music by living composers, and committing to programming music by women and People of Color. Jaime Morales-Matos has brought this professional symphony orchestra to the front ranks of central Ohio’s musical life with freshly designed, vividly-realized programs of four centuries of music. Audiences and critics remarked on his “razor-sharp intelligence, balanced by a generosity of spirit,” his “committed, vigorous, and often driving performance,” his “impressive demonstration of talent and discipline,” and the fact that the “conductor put the program together with imagination and taste,” overall commenting that “this orchestra and Morales are capable of taking on big challenges.”

In addition to this role, Morales-Matos has been involved in several other ensembles. In 2008, Morales-Matos became the Music Director of the Clermont Philharmonic. Previously he was Music Director of the Miami University Symphony Orchestra and Cover Conductor with the Dayton Philharmonic. 

Besides his innovative programming, Jaime Morales Matos has been recognized by colleagues as a creative and skilled leader for orchestral development. For example, he has been directly involved in fundraising for many of his symphony orchestras. With a distinguished and consistent style, he effectively combines and exercises his roles as Music Director, Public Relations Executive, and Community Engagement Leader.

As a trombonist, Morales-Matos has performed with the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestra, the Columbus Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, Lexington Philharmonic, and the New World Symphony in the United States and with the Asturias, Granada, and Galicia Symphony Orchestras in Spain. Also, he is very active in chamber music with the Gabrieli Brass Quintet, Top Brass, and the Upbeat Brass. He has premiered various concertos and other works written primarily for him.

Jaime is a composer and arranger of music, including music for “Puerto Rico,” an Omni vision film presented at the World Expo’92.