The Owensboro Symphony Orchestra is a professional orchestra that provides a full range of performances and programs for the Owensboro community and surrounding region, including a subscription series, free community concerts, and a variety of educational programs. Nicholas Palmer, the music director and conductor, is widely regarded as one of the most talented young conductors on the scene today.
Palmer is also music director and conductor of the Altoona (PA) Symphony and the Evening Under the Stars Music Festival in Massachusetts, as well as artistic adviser for the Dubuque (IA) Symphony. He has conducted symphonies across the country—including the Boulder Philharmonic, Chicago Sinfonietta, New Hampshire Philharmonic, and more—and around the world. In Europe, Maestro Palmer has conducted the West Bohemia Symphony in the Czech Republic and the ORM Orchestra in Lausanne, Switzerland. He also recently conducted a series of concerts with the Czech Radio Orchestra.
As an opera conductor, Palmer has conducted full productions of such works as Tosca, La Bohème, and Don Giovanni for such companies as the Chicago Light Opera Works, the Boston Summer Opera, and the Jacksonville Opera. He also has conducted full productions of several ballets as music director of the Heartland Ballet.
A native of Hingham, MA, Palmer graduated cum laude from Harvard University and has received his master’s and doctoral degrees in orchestral conducting from the New England Conservatory of Music and the University of Iowa, respectively.
