John Palmer (1959) is a British composer, pianist, musicologist, and university professor.

John Palmer

John Palmer began his music career as a pianist and keyboard player in the mid-seventies. In the 1980s he studied piano with Grazia Wendling and Eva Serman at the Lucerne School of Music (Musikhochschule Luzern), Switzerland, while attending courses in composition with Edison Denisov and Vinko Globokar. He continued his composition studies in London at Trinity College of Music, Royal Holloway, University of London and at City University London where he obtained a PhD in composition in 1994. Further studies include composition with Vinko Globokar at the Dartington Summer School and privately with Jonathan Harvey, analysis with Jonathan Cross at the University of Bristol, and conducting with Alan Hazeldine at the Guildhall School of Music And Drama in London. Since 1987 Palmer's works has focused on orchestral, instrumental, vocal, chamber music, and electroacoustic composition. Palmer is professor of Ear training at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart.^[1]

Selected works

Awards

• 1990 - Cornelius Cardew Competition, England: special mention for in memory of a friend, for soprano and piano.
• 1992 - City of Lucerne Cultural Prize, Switzerland: first prize winner with Omen, for orchestra and choir.
• 1994 - Bourges International Competition for Electroacoustic Music, France: second prize winner with Beyond the Bridge, for cello & electronics.
• 1995 - Surrey Sinfonietta Orchestral Competition Contest, England: first prize winner with Concertino, for orchestra.
• 1995 - 1st Tokyo International Competition for Chamber Music Composition: second prize winner with Theorem (piano trio).
• 1996 - City of Klagenfurt International Composition Prize, Austria: second prize winner with Second String Quartet (Dream).
• 2009 - Bourges International Competition for Electroacoustic Music, France: selection of Transient for soprano, prepared piano & electronics.
• 2010 - Città di Udine International Competition for Composers, Italy: Special Mention and Medal of the President of the Italian Republic for Transference, for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano.
• 2011 - Presque Rien International Competition Prize, Paris: prize winner with mémoires, for electroacoustic sounds.

Recordings

• In the Temple - Animato Records ACD6144.
• I Am - Animato Records ACD6143.
• Musica Reservata - Animato Records ACD6136. Animato Records
• Beyond The Bridge in Edition Memnosyne, Synthese 8, LD278058/59. mnemosyne label
• Phonai in Electroshock, 2 ELCD 006. electroshock label
• Epitaph in Electroshock, 3 ELCD 007. electroshock label
• Theorem in Living Artists Recordings, Vol.3. living artists label
• Present Otherness in Sargasso SCD 28057
• Beyond The Bridge, Phonai, Renge-Kyo, Spirits, Vision. Sargasso SCD 28023
• Encounter, Hinayana, Epitaph, Between. Sargasso SCD 28038
• Koan, Still, Satori. Sargasso SCD 28049
• Waka, '...as it flies...', Nowhere. Sargasso SCD 28053
• Inwards, Drang, Transient, Tranfiguration, Fado. Sargasso SCD 28059
• Without in Dots/Lines, Takao Hyakutome (2015)
• Verso L’Alto in 20 Jahre Ensemble Plus, ORF Voralberg CD Label, 2016. (Limited Edition).
• Mémoires in Presque Rien Competition Prize CD Label, Vol. I, Paris 2017. (Limited Edition).

Bibliography

Books:

Looking Within: The Music of John Palmer - Dialogues and Essays, edited by Sunny Knable (2021). Vision Edition, ISBN 978-0-9931761-7-3.

Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco by Jonathan Harvey. An aural score, analysis and discussion (2018), 008-MA, 009-MP, 0010-MP Vision Edition. ISBN 978-0-9931761-3-5. ISMN: 979-0-9002315-4-3, 979-0-9002315-5-0.

Conversations (2015), Vision Edition 003-MC, 2015. ISBN 978-0-9931761-0-4.

Rhythm to go (2013), Vision Edition 002-MP. 2013. Fourth edition 2016. ISMN 979-0-9002315-1-2.

Jonathan Harvey's Bhakti for chamber ensemble and electronics (2001), Edwin Mellen Press, Studies in History and Interpretation of Music. ISBN 0-7734-7436-6; ISBN 978-0-7734-7436-9 * mellenpress

Formal Strategies in Composition. PhD Thesis, City University, London, 1994.

Articles and Papers:

Introduction to ‘Images of the mind' (1997). Paper given at the 1997 KlangArt International Congress ‘New Music & Technology’ in Osnabrück, Germany. Published in ‘Musik und Neue Technologie 3, Musik im virtuellen Raum’ (edited by Bernd Enders), Universitätsverlag Rasch, Osnabrück (2000). ISBN 3-934005-64-0.

Conceptual models of interaction: towards a perceptual analysis of interactive composition (1997-8) Paper given at the 1997 Sonic Arts Network Conference, University of Birmingham, UK, 10–12 January 1998. Published in the Seamus Journal, USA, Vol. XIV no. 1, Summer 1999. SEAMUS, Sonic Arts Network

Perceptual Abstraction and Electroacoustic Composition (1998) Paper given at the 1998 Seamus Conference, Dartmouth College, NH, USA, 16–18 April 1998 (1997–98). Published in the Seamus Journal, USA, Vol. XIII, No. 2, Fall 1998. SEAMUS

Listening: towards a new awareness of a neglected skill (1997) Paper for the Stockholm Hey Listen! International Conference on Acoustic Ecology, 9–13 June 1998 Published by the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, June 1998.

Which Global Music? (1999) Paper given at the 1999 Klangart Congress, Osnabrueck, Germany, June 1999. Published in ‘Musik und Neue Technologie 4’ (edited by Bernd Enders), Epos music Universitätsverlag Osnabrück (2003). ISBN 978-3-923486-01-4, ISBN 978-3-923486-02-1 epos music publisher read article

The lesson of freedom: Remembering Luc Ferrari (2005) Published in 'Soundscape - The Journal of Acoustic Ecology', Vol. 6, No. 1, Spring/Summer 2005. ISSN 1607-3304 Soundscape

Further reading

Breathing Silence. An interview with John Palmer. By Cristina Scuderi, 2011. Musica/Tecnologia Journal, Vol. 5, 2011, Firenze University Press. ISSN 1974-0042.

The Ambiguity of Sounds. Composer and pianist John Palmer. By Christian Peter Meier. Luzerner Zeitung, 25.1.1993. In German.

Intervista a John Palmer. By Lia De Pra Cavalleri. Verifiche, Swiss Journal of culture and politics in education, April 2003. In Italian. .

Interview in Composition Today'. By Christian Morris, 2014.

References

External links

• Official website
• Composers Edition
• Vision Edition