Biography

Ben Palmer is musical director of the Orchestra of St Paul's, the Bartholdy Chamber Orchestra and the Syred Sinfonia, and in November 2010 begins a four-year tenure as conductor of Stamford Chamber Orchestra in Lincolnshire. 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 2011 he makes his debuts with the Wolsey Orchestra and Brandon Hill Chamber Orchestra.

Ben Palmer is in great demand as a choral conductor, and is musical director of acclaimed chamber choir The Syred Consort, Kingston Orpheus Choir and South West Essex Choir. In September 2010 he takes up the position of musical director with Woking Choral Society in its 115th season.

With the Orchestra of St Paul's (OSP) Ben Palmer gives regular performances at festivals and other venues around the UK, including annual visits to Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room and St John’s, Smith Square. OSP is resident at the famous Actors' Church in Covent Garden, and runs a thriving concert series in its home venue. The orchestra, which brings together some of the finest young musicians in London, is Ensemble-in-Residence at the prestigious University College School in Hampstead. Performances this season include Prokofiev and Mahler at Purcell Room, Rachmaninov with pianist Steven Osborne at St John’s, Smith Square, and concerts at the Victoria & Albert Museum and the English Music Festival.

Ben Palmer has conducted orchestral concerts throughout the UK and in China, Italy, Germany, Hungary, Poland and the Seychelles; he recently made his debut at the Royal Albert Hall. His opera experience includes productions of Le nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte, Die Zauberflöte and Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges.

Future plans include a staged production of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Haydn’s The Creation, a tour of Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire and Walton’s Façade, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Mahler songs with Roderick Williams at St John’s, Smith Square.