Todd Palmer
Having been involved in an array of creative and diverse artistic presentations throughout his career, clarinetist Todd Palmer has appeared as soloist, recitalist, chamber music collaborator, educator, arranger, and presenter in a variety of musical endeavors around the world. He has appeared with many symphony and chamber orchestras including those of Houston, Atlanta, St. Paul, Cincinnati, Montréal, BBC Scotland, and has collaborated with many of the worlds finest string ensembles such as the St. Lawrence, Brentano, Borromeo, Pacifica, and Ying Quartets. Palmer has also shared the stage with sopranos Kathleen Battle, Renée Fleming, and Dawn Upshaw. He has appeared in the world premiere of composer Ricky Gordon’s theatre work, Orpheus and Euridice, with coloratura Elizabeth Futral on Great Performers at Lincoln Center in 2005. A major contribution to the 20th century clarinet and song literature, this work has been newly released on Ghostlight Records featuring the original artists for whom it was written.
Since winning the Young Concert Artist International Auditions, Palmer has appeared as recitalist and lecturer at major performing arts centers and universities in 48 states. His appearances abroad have included concerto, recital and chamber music performances in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, England, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the Caribbean, and Japan. In addition, Palmer has been closely associated with composer Osvaldo Golijov, and is regarded as the champion of his great klezmer clarinet quintet The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind. He recorded this work, entitled Yiddishbbuk, with the St. Lawrence Quartet for EMI Classics which became one of the top-selling recordings of 2002, and received two Grammy Award nominations in addition to the Classical Prelude Award from the Netherlands. As editor-in-chief of the piece for its publication, Palmer worked extensively with Golijov on the score as well as the newly orchestrated version which he premiered in the U.S. in 2006.
He has been a participant for 13 years at Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, SC, and a member of the highly popular touring group Spoleto Chamber Music USA, which has been heard around the U.S. for 10 years and on annual NPR broadcasts. He’s attended many other summer music festivals in the US and Canada over the years including Ravinia, La Jolla SummerFest, Bravo!, the Caramoor, Bridgehampton, Portland, and the Vancouver Chamber Music Festivals. In addition, he participated for five summers at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont, as well as the Tanglewood Music Festival where he received the Leonard Bernstein Fellowship. He has held principle clarinet positions in the Minnesota Orchestra, the Gotham Opera, and the Grand Teton Festival as well.
Being an avid arranger, Palmer has had many of his arrangements performed at various venues throughout the country in addition to many annual broadcasts on NPR’s “Performance Today” most notably being chamber nonets of Weber’s Invitation to the Dance and two suites from André Messager’s ballet The Two Pigeons.
— June 2007
