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The New Zealander bass singer, choral conductor and music educatort, obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Ancient History & Mathematics from the University of Auckland (2005-2008); his Bachelor of Music degree in Performance Voice with First Class Honors from the University of Auckland (2009); his Graduate Diploma in Teaching (Secondary) Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Auckland (2010); and his Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from Indiana University in Bloomington, Ohio (August 2016-May 2018). He has recently completed coursework towards a doctorate in Choral Conducting at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music (since 2018; expedcted graduation in May 2021).
Jono Palmer is a dynamic and enterprising conductor from Auckland, New Zealand. His choirs have won national and international acclaim, including two Gold Medals at the 2015 Grand Prix of Nations in Magdeburg, Germany, and many awards at regional and national festivals of the NZCF Big Sing festival. As a conductor, Jono has been selected for master-classes at the 2017 World Symposium of Choral Music and the 2017 National Collegiate Choral Organization National Conference. In October 2018, he was a finalist in the inaugural London International Choral Conducting Competition.
Jono Palmer has a particular research interest in choral works inspired by te ao Māori, especially in the influence of colonialization and cultural appropriation on New Zealand choral music, which is the topic of his doctoral dissertation. In 2019, he presented a paper at the national conference of the National Collegiate Choral Organization on the performance of kapahaka music by non-Māori choirs, and in 2021 he lead a round-table discussion at Indiana University on issues related to the appropriation and cultural borrowing of Indigenous music by Western composers.
As a singer, Jono Palmer has been a member of the New Zealand Secondary Students Choir, the New Zealand Youth Choir, and Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir. Some of his solo engagements have included the role of Papageno in W.A. Mozart's The Magic Flute (Class Act Opera), Superintendent Budd in Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring (University of Auckland), a Christmas concert tour with Operatunity, and guest solo performances with the South Auckland Choral Society and Auckland Choral Society. Jono has also performed several times with the Bloomington Bach Cantata Project.
Jono Palmer has sung with many of Auckland’s leading choirs including the University of Auckland Chamber Choir, Musica Sacra, Viva Voce, Bach Musica, Holy Trinity Cathedral Choir, V8 Vocal Ensemble, Voices of the Age of Discovery, and Laudamus Vocal Ensemble. At Indiana University, he has performed regularly with the HPI ensemble Concentus, as well as NOTUS Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, Indiana University Singers, the Conductor’s Chorus, and the Singing Hoosiers.
Jono Palmer has served as music teacher at Rangitoto College in Auckland (January 2011-August 2016); Choir Director at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Bedford, Indians (Aug 2019-Decembe 2020); and Associate Instructor at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (since August 2016). He currently lives in Bloomington, Indiana. He maintains a link to New Zealand in his work as Artistic Programme Coordinator for Choral Connect, the NZCF Association of Choral Director’s National Conference, and as a part-time high school teacher. At Rangitoto College he music directed Into the Woods (Sondheim), Beauty and the Beast (Menken), and was chorus master for The Witches of Eastwick (Rowe). |
