About

Equally at home as a soloist, collaborator, presenter, and teacher, pianist James Palmer is a dynamic musician based in Houston, Texas.

James is sought after across the United States for solo recitals, chamber performances, and lecture-recitals. Throughout the 23-24 season, he has made solo appearances in Texas, New York, Michigan, and Arizona, where he played in the Piano on the Rocks International Festival IX in Sedona. James is one half of Houston-based Duo Impetuoso with violist Molly Wise; he performed with Molly at the American Viola Society Festival in Los Angeles, California in June 2024. James recently attended the Art of Piano Residency at Banff Centre, Canada.

An active member of the Houston music scene, James regularly performs in venues throughout the city.  He was recently accepted onto the DaCamera of Houston Young Artist roster. Recent solo and chamber appearances include the Asia Society, Music in Context Chamber Series, Musiqa, Houston Public Library, and numerous solo recitals for church music series in the area.  Recent Houston performances include a solo recital at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church (February 2024) and a duo performance with violist Molly Wise, at the Steinway Selection Center and the Archway Gallery (March 2024).

A passionate performer of new music, James is frequently sought after for premieres and collaborations. In spring 2024, he premiered pieces by Dr. Karim al-Zand, Nicky Sohn, Bahar Royaee, and Tian Qin. From 2021-22, James developed the lecture-recital What is a Piano Prelude?, in which he presented a set of solo piano preludes he commissioned from six award-winning Houston-based composers: Badie Khaleghian, Nicky Sohn, Sam Wu, Olivia Bennett, Alex Berko, and Dr. Pierre Jalbert.  Listen to these pieces here.

James is the Secretary for the Scriabin Society of America (SSA), a national organization dedicated to promoting the music and legacy of the great Russian composer Alexander Scriabin.  In this role, he co-organized and gave a lecture-recital at the SSA’s International Scriabin 150 Festival in November, 2022, which celebrated the composer’s sesquicentennial anniversary. The SSA regularly organizes performance events and produces scholarly publications. To learn more about the SSA, please visit https://scriabinsociety.com/.

A Passion for Teaching

James is also an active educator in Houston.  In addition to maintaining an independent private studio, he is on the faculty of the Shepherd School of Music Preparatory Division.  For two years, he has taught the Summer Piano Intensive and coached chamber groups at the AFA Texas Summer Music Festival in Houston, TX. During his doctorate, James was a Teaching Fellow at the Rice University Shepherd School of Music, where in fall 2023 he taught the Master’s level Piano Literature course.

Education and Background

In 2023, James finished doctoral coursework at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he studied with Dr. Robert Roux.  He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, studying with legendary musicians Émile Naoumoff and Menahem Pressler.  As a pre-college student, James studied with Sandrine Erdely-Sayo in his native Philadelphia, PA. 

A Commitment to Finding Innovative ways to Share Music

From 2021-22, James developed the lecture-recital What is a Piano Prelude?, in which he presented a set of solo piano preludes he commissioned from six award-winning Houston-based composers: Badie Khaleghian, Nicky Sohn, Sam Wu, Olivia Bennett, Alex Berko, and Dr. Pierre Jalbert.  He gave numerous performances of this lecture-recital in the area and is currently releasing a YouTube series version of the project.

In 2019, James launched the Scriabin Preludes Project, a forward-looking YouTube series focused on the Opus 11 Preludes of Alexander Scriabin. The series can be found on James’s YouTube page, with previews on his Instagram.  James has given several presentations about this series, including at the 2020 MTNA Collegiate Symposium in Muncie, Indiana.