Ben Palmer

Ben Palmer is Chief Conductor of the Deutsche Philharmonie Merck, and Founder and Artistic Director of Covent Garden Sinfonia. Recent guest conducting engagements include the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Hallé, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin, Sinfonietta de Lausanne, St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra and Cinematic Sinfonia. He works regularly with the BBC Singers, London Mozart Players, the Orchestra of Opera North, Grimethorpe Colliery Band and the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. 

In 2019/20 he will conduct the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, HK Phil, Heidelberger Sinfoniker, and National Youth Jazz Orchestra for the first time, as well as returning to the Hallé, Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg, Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen, Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra and St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra. 

Palmer is one of Europe's leading specialists in conducting live to film. Past performances include screenings of Jurassic Park, Home Alone and The Snowman at the Royal Albert Hall, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Casino Royale, The Pink Panther, Star Wars trilogy, Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Back to the Future, Under the Skin, Casablanca, Psycho and Metropolis. In 2019/20 he will conduct Skyfall,  Beauty and the Beast, Love Actually and Brassed Off, and the closing concert of Le Giornate de Cinema Muto, the world-famous Pordenone silent film festival.