About

Nick Palmer has been widely recognized for his compelling performances, visionary leadership, and emotional connection to audiences and is regarded as one of the most talented symphonic and Pops conductors on the scene today.

Maestro Palmer is Music Director of the Altoona Symphony in Pennsylvania, where he has had a four decade association, and the North Charleston POPS! in South Carolina (NCP) where he is starting his 10th season. He is also in his 28th season as conductor of the Evening Under the Stars summer music festival in Massachusetts, where he regularly conducts the Plymouth Philharmonic Orchestra. Nick was a recipient of the Helen M. Thompson Award from the League of American Orchestras as the nation’s most outstanding young music director. Palmer has had an extensive recording career including recent recordings with the London Philharmonic at the Abbey Road Studios which have garnered several Gramophone and Billboard awards. 

Under Palmer’s direction, from 1998-2024, the Lafayette Symphony in Indiana experienced increased ticket sales, dynamic and creative programming, a marked development in educational programs, and dramatic artistic growth. Dick Jaeger commented in the Journal & Courier “without trepidation this reviewer is ready to state that the Lafayette Symphony Orchestra and conductor are setting the bar higher and higher for other regional orchestras around the state and Midwest”.

Nick has won rave reviews with the Detroit Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, Tucson Symphony, Boulder Philharmonic, Virginia Symphony, Chicago Sinfonietta, Louisville Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic, Salt Lake Symphony, Huntsville Symphony, Greenville Symphony and other orchestras across the nation. Palmer has also conducted at both the Kennedy Center and the International Dvorak Festival. He has been a frequent Pops conductor for the Springfield (MA) Symphony and the Jacksonville Symphony.

EUROPEAN FAVORITE

A favorite guest conductor in Europe, Mexico, and South America, Palmer conducted the Europa Philharmonie at the Hardinsburg Castle near Berlin, toured with the Orchestra di San Remo for two weeks in Italy and led concerts with the Czech Radio Orchestra at the Prague and Nelahozeves Castles celebrating the music of George Gershwin. The Berlin press hailed Palmer’s conducting as “a musical high point with world class flair” and Radio Suisse Romande in Switzerland noted Palmer’s “great professionalism with unity and verve”.

EDUCATION

A native of Hingham, Massachusetts, Palmer graduated cum laude from Harvard University and received his Masters and Doctoral degrees in Orchestral Conducting from the New England Conservatory of Music and the University of Iowa, respectively. He also studied at the Juilliard School, Pierre Monteux Domaine School, Aspen Music School, the Festival at Sandpoint, and the Academia Chigiana in Italy, where he was a student of Franco Ferrara and Carlo Maria Giulini.

RECORDING

Maestro Nick is no stranger to the recording studio. Over the years, he has led orchestras in the recording of both major works (for the label Symphonic Discoveries) and new music for Albany Recordings. Most recently, he has been asked by the estate of late composer Arnold Rosner to lead a new recording project with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In  2018 Palmer and the orchestra recorded two CD’s at the legendary Abbey Road Studio, a third in 2019, and a fourth in 2024. Rosner Orchestral Music, vol. 3 was both a Gramophone 2019 Critic’s Choice, Billboard top seller and Musicweb International Recording of the year: “Rosner’s high impact and memorable music is well served by Nick Palmer – a talent of which we need to hear more”.