Our Team

Hailed for her “delightful and warm performance…all played with immediacy and conviction” by Washington Post’s Anne Midgette, Dr. Jamila Tekalli Hanner has enjoyed a career as a solo and chamber musician, educator, and arts advocate. Born in Tripoli to Japanese and Libyan parents, Jamila is passionate about connecting the world through the language of music.

As Artistic Director of the Washington Musical Pathways Initiative, Jamila leads efforts to increase diversity in classical music, supporting young musicians from historically excluded communities. As a performing artist, she has performed with musicians of the National Symphony Orchestra, Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, and Colorado Symphony and in residencies at the Banff Centre, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Keyboard Institute at Mannes, and Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute. As part of a sibling duo with her brother and violinist Suliman Tekalli, she has performed throughout the U.S. and Mexico and served as a U.S. Cultural Ambassador, promoting music and cultural exchange in Libya.

Jamila holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Masters in Performance from University of Central Florida and a Doctor of Musical Arts from University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. She has studied privately with Evelyne Brancart, Arnaldo Cohen, Tian Ying, and Santiago Rodriguez and in coaching and workshops with members of the Brentano String Quartet, Tokyo String Quartet, Robert McDonald, Gilbert Kalish, and Dawn Upshaw. As an educator, Jamila was Lecturer in Music at Barry University, and director of piano and adjudicator of the 2007 Concurso Internacional de Música Clásica "Jóvenes Talentos" in Cuenca, Ecuador. Jamila currently serves as a member of the piano faculty at Levine Music in Washington, D.C. Beyond her musical pursuits, Jamila is also an avid tennis and pickleball player and enjoys discovering new cuisines and attending live performances.