Biography
"Two premieres rose above the crowd for me this year...the first, an exquisitely crafted setting of the late medieval Corpus
Christi Carol, stepped into the world in November with an accomplished performance from the Syred Consort under Ben Palmer."
Andrew Stewart, Classical Music Magazine December 2007
"Lovely music making from the singers of The Syred Consort and members of the
Orchestra of St Paul's under the direction of Ben Palmer makes this an enjoyable evening"
Howard Loxton, The British Theatre Guide August 2009
"Guest conductor Ben Palmer made a favourable impression, not least for the way in which he faced up to the challenge of the Abbey's
acoustics in that most Romantic of works, Tchaikovsky's Pathétique Symphony… This was a performance of great conviction."
Roger Jones, Gloucestershire Echo October 2007
"The clear and expressive leadership of Ben Palmer was very evident and the Bartholdy Chamber
Orchestra accompanied with considerable skill and sympathy, never overpowering the choral forces."
John Buckmaster, Ilford Recorder December 2008
Ben Palmer is Musical Director of the Orchestra of St Paul’s, the Syred Sinfonia and the Bartholdy Chamber Orchestra. He is also in great demand as a choral conductor and is Musical Director of South West Essex Choir, Kingston Orpheus Choir and acclaimed chamber choir The Syred Consort. He has conducted Britten Sinfonia and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, and is regularly invited to work with some of the UK’s finest amateur orchestras including the Sinfonia of Cambridge, Cheltenham Symphony Orchestra, Forest Philharmonic Orchestra and Haydn Chamber Orchestra. In November 2010 he begins a four-year tenure as conductor of the Stamford Chamber Orchestra in Lincolnshire.
Ben made his Purcell Room début in 2008 conducting the Orchestra of St Paul’s (OSP), and appeared there with them again in 2009 for a programme of Debussy, Prokofiev and Mahler. He will return with OSP to Purcell Room for a third time in October 2010, with a programme of twentieth century music for strings that will also tour to Norwich and Seaton in Devon. Resident at the Actors' Church in Covent Garden, OSP is a chamber orchestra bringing together some of the finest young professional musicians in London. In addition to a thriving concert series in Covent Garden, OSP gives regular performances at festivals and other venues around the UK, and is Ensemble-in-Residence at the prestigious University College School in Hampstead. Performances this season include concerts at St John’s, Smith Square (with pianist Steven Osborne), the Victoria & Albert Museum and the English Music Festival.
With The Syred Consort, Ben Palmer has explored a wide variety of repertoire, including Domenico Scarlatti’s Stabat Mater, Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, and smaller works by composers such as Byrd, Gesualdo, Haydn, Tippett and Walton. With the Consort he has given the world première of works by Graham Ross and Malcolm Hayes, the latter recently published by Faber Music. Forthcoming performances include Bach’s St John Passion, a concert at the English Music Festival and, with the Orchestra of St Paul's, a production of Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas.
Ben Palmer has been a regular guest at Dartington International Summer School, having been invited to conduct music theatre works by New York composer Gerald Busby (including two world premières), and a staged production of Walton’s Façade recited by Edith Sitwell’s great-nephew William. He has conducted orchestral concerts throughout the UK and in China, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland and the Seychelles, and his opera experience includes productions of Le nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte, Die Zauberflöte and Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortileges.
Plans for 2010/11 include symphonies by Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn, Mozart, Sibelius and Tchaikovsky, Verdi Requiem and Haydn’s The Creation, and his début at the Royal Albert Hall. In March 2011 he will return to St John’s, Smith Square with the Orchestra of St Paul's to perform Beethoven’s Ninth, the final installment of their Beethoven symphony cycle.
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