JOE DAVIES
Conductor
Recently praised for his 'musical brilliance' (Seen and Heard International), Joe Davies is a Conductor working around the UK. He is Assistant Conductor of the English Symphony Orchestra, Musical Director of the UK Proms in the Park Orchestra, Canterbury Symphony Orchestra, Oxford Millennium Orchestra, Leamington Sinfonia, Solway Sinfonia, and Coventry & Warwickshire Youth Orchestra, and Artistic Director of the Cumbria Opera Group. Recent and future engagements include the National Schools' Symphony Orchestra, Oxford University Orchestra, and Nottingham Symphony Orchestra, and Winchester Symphony Orchestra, while previous MD positions include Worcester Philharmonic Orchestra, Midland Concert Orchestra, and Contemporary Music East Midlands (CoMA).
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Joe's Opera credits include Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Acis and Galatea, Trouble in Tahiti, Dido and Aeneas, and Venus and Adonis with the Cumbria Opera Group, alongside Candide at the Oxford Playhouse and Mansfield Park with Cardiff Opera. Joe was Artistic Director of the Cumbria Opera Festivals 2021 and 2023, involving artists such as Roderick Williams OBE and Joan Rodgers CBE. Joe has conducted premieres of works by Howard Skempton, Alex Ho, and Martin Bussey, while concerto collaborations include Jess Gillam, Laura van der Heijden, Emma Johnson, Xhosa Cole, Clare Hammond, and Harry Baker. Joe graduated with a First Class Degree in Music from St Peter’s College, Oxford, and studied Orchestral Conducting at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, graduating with Distinction, where he studied under Michael Seal.
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DAVID PALMER
Soloist
David Palmer (b. 1997) is a London-based composer and pianist specialising in 20th- and 21st-century repertoire. He is in demand as a soloist and collaborative pianist, and has a particular interest in song accompaniment. David was a 2022-23 Britten Pears Young Artist, a 2024 Leeds Lieder Young Artist, and attended the Ensemble Modern Young Ensemble Academy 2024 with Mad Song. He is generously supported by Help Musicians.
David studies piano with Rolf Hind and Ronan O’Hora on the Artist Diploma course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, having previously received a Master’s in performance with a Concert Recital Diploma for exceptional performance. David read music at the University of Oxford, where he was president of the music and chamber music societies, graduating with a first-class BA in 2019.
He now teaches undergraduate modules in stylistic composition, arranging, keyboard skills and composition at Oxford. David was a composer for the National Youth Orchestra and attended the Junior Royal Northern College of Music. David has studied composition with Richard Barrett, Robert Saxton and Matthew Sergeant.
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Highlights from David’s repertoire include concertos by Berg, Finnissy and Xenakis, major solo works such as Murail’s Territoires de l’oubli, Nono’s ..... sofferte onde serene ... and Vivier’s Shiraz, and many new commissions (including upcoming works by Finnissy, Saxton and Metcalf). Upcoming projects include a recording project with Mad Song ensemble funded by the Marchus Trust, a performance of Boulez’s Second Sonata for the BBC, and a solo album release with Divine Arts / Métier of contemporary British music.