Praised by the New York Times as “most impressive,” “gorgeous,” “lovely,” “precise, brightly projected” and for her “depth and nuance,” Nacole Palmer is a soprano to watch in the early music scene, and is equally at home on the operatic and recital stages. The Yale Herald lauded her “distinguished grace” and declared that Ms. Palmer’s arias were “delivered with such pure emotion that the audience [had] no recourse but to feel her heartache.”
A frequent oratorio and concert soloist, Ms. Palmer made her acclaimed Lincoln Center debut in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at Alice Tully Hall with conductor Patrick Gardner. That same week, she also sang her Carnegie Hall debut as Soprano Soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the New York Oratorio Society and conductor Kent Tritle. In her acclaimed Weill Hall debut with the Clarion Music Society, led by Steven Fox, Ms. Palmer sang the role of Cleopatra in Graun’s Cleopatra e Cesare. For seven years, Ms. Palmer performed regularly as a soloist and ensemble member at New York’s Trinity Wall Street Church; her orchestral solo credits there include Mozart’s Mass in C Minor and Vesperae solennes de Domenica, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Handel’s Messiah, Michael Haydn’s Requiem, Purcell’s Dioclesian and King Arthur, Carissimi’s Jephte, and the cantatas and masses of Bach. Conducted by Dr. Owen Burdick, all of these performances and more were broadcast live on WQXR, WNYC, and via live webcast. Other solo engagements include Bach’s B minor Mass and St. John Passionwith the widely acclaimed Seraphic Fire, Handel’s Messiah with the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra, Dido and Aeneas with Blue Hill Bach, and the world-debut of the song cycle Songs of Ishmael.
Ms. Palmer’s first professional recording collaboration was released on the NAXOS label; in the recording, she joins The Trinity Choir as Soprano Soloist for three Haydn masses (Theresienmesse, Schöpfungsmesse, and Harmoniemesse) conducted by Jane Glover. Ms. Palmer also performed the Theresien and Schöpfungs Masses, as well as Handel’s Messiah, with Ms. Glover and Rebel Baroque Orchestra.
A gifted operatic actor and lover of the stage, Ms. Palmer’s favorite roles include Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare), La Contessa Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte). Other full roles include Clorinda (Il Combattimento di Tancredi), Nero (L’incoronazione di Poppea), Cupid (King Arthur), 2nd Witch (Dido and Aeneas), the Foreign Woman (The Consul), and Helena (A Midsummer Night’s Dream). At Trinity Wall Street, Ms. Palmer sang the role of Kitty Hart in scenes from Dead Man Walking, with Frederica von Stade and Joyce Di Donato, accompanied by composer Jake Heggie.
Particularly skilled in the interpretation of new music, Ms. Palmer’s contemporary credits include Stephen Albert’s To Wake the Dead and Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, both performed in the Aspen Music Festival concert series. Other contemporary credits include Karim Al-Zand’s song cycle for soprano and chamber ensemble, Winter Scenes, with the Rice University faculty concert series, and Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon’s tour-de-force trio for women, Trumpeter, performed in recital in New York City and recorded in 2007. In 2016, Ms. Palmer performed the deeply anticipated world debut of a work written for herself and fellow soprano Molly Quinn by composer / conductor James Blachly. The song cycle, Songs of Ishmael, features texts from Melville’s Moby Dick. A recording of the full work will be coming out soon. Listen to an early recording of one of the pieces, Amours in the Deep.
The winner of several competitions, including the NY Oratorio Society Competition (Best Baroque Performance and Best Classical Performance), the Quinnipiac Vocal Competition (First Place), the Houston Young Soloist Competition (First Place), and the William Waite Concerto Competition of Yale University (Third Place), Ms. Palmer was also a Fellowship Recipient in the Vocal Chamber Music program at the Aspen Music Festival. A graduate of Yale University (B.A.) and Rice University (M.M.), Ms. Palmer developed a love of singing classical music during her experiences singing as a youth under the batons of Stephen J. Ortlip and Robert Shaw in her native Atlanta, Georgia. Ms. Palmer counts Maestro Shaw among her most significant influences, along with voice teachers and mentors: Lili Chookasian, Ted Taylor, and teacher W. Stephen Smith.
Ms. Palmer is a co-founder and co-Artistic Director of Zenith Ensemble, a professional vocal and instrumental ensemble dedicated to making extraordinary music available to all in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. She also teaches voice at Colby College.
For a printer-friendly version of Nacole Palmer’s complete resumé, download it here.