Donald Palma maintains a busy schedule of conducting, performing and teaching throughout the northeastern United States and the world.
A native New Yorker, Mr. Palma was educated at the Julliard School and joined Leopold Stokowski’s American Symphony Orchestra at the age of 19. At age 22, he joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic but soon returned to New York City to join the recently formed Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Speculum Musicae, which then won the coveted Naumburg Award. He was principal bass of the National Arts Orchestra under Trevor Pinnock and played principal bass for Leonard Bernstein for his recording of West Side Story. Mr. Palma also joined the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for its recording of the complete Wagner Ring Cycle under James Levine and was a featured artist on Kathleen Battle’s CD “Grace.” He has performed and recorded with pop icon Sting and recorded Stravinsky’s “A Soldier’s Tale” with Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters which was released by SONY in 2018.
A founding member of the world famous Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Mr. Palma has toured the globe and recorded over 50 CDs for Deutsche Grammophon including the Grammy winning “Shadow Dances” featuring works of Igor Stravinsky. He has appeared at the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, conducting a staged and televised production of Stravinsky’s “L’Histoire du Soldat.” He was part of the George Crumb 70th birthday celebration conducting “Ancient Voices of Children” at Lincoln Center and Elliott Carter’s 100th birthday celebration at Carnegie Hall.
With the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Mr. Palma received the ASCAP/Chamber Music America Award for Adventurous Programming twice during his tenure as Music Director. He has made three critically acclaimed recordings of American music with the Odense Symphony in Denmark featuring works of Elliott Carter, Stephen Jaffe and Peter Lieberson. The Lieberson CD was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2006.
Mr. Palma has also performed with the Emerson, the Julliard and the Borromeo Quartets, Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, Da Camera Chamber Music Society and has appeared in recitals with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Jeanne-Pierre Rampal and Jan De Gaetani. He appears regularly with the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival and is a member of the chamber music group Mistral and the North Country Chamber Players. In recent seasons, Mr. Palma has performed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in Carnegie Hall and Central Park, the New York Philharmonic and Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center and at the International Music Festival in Cartagena. He’s conducted the Xalapa Symphony in Mexico, the Bridgeport Symphony and at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. Mr. Palma has also recently performed with Jazz at Lincoln Center with Brazilian star Ivan Lins and has recorded with jazz legend Wayne Shorter.
A dedicated educator, Mr. Palma has given master classes all over the globe. His students occupy major positions in orchestras, ensembles and universities throughout the world. From 2004 to 2008, he was Director of Orchestras at the New England Conservatory and continues at that institution as Director of its Chamber orchestra. He regularly teaches at Orford University in Quebec and has been Associate Professor of Music at Yale School of Music in New Haven since 1991. He has conducted at the Toho School in Tokyo, the Julliard School, the Connecticut All-State Orchestra and State University of New York at Purchase and has been a guest lecturer-conductor at University of California San Diego.
Mr. Palma resides in Newton, Massachusetts with his wife, Maira.