About

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

Described as “one of those artists who can make classical music such great fun” (Sedona Red Rock News), James performs across the United States as a soloist and chamber musician. His broad musical appetite has led to a diverse performing career, ranging from traditional recital performances to innovative projects featuring new music. An active member of the Houston music scene, James regularly performs in venues throughout the city. He has performed with many performing arts organizations in Houston, including the Context Series, Musiqa, Houston Public Library, and Bayou City Ballet; he has also been a featured soloist for many local recital series. Other recent appearances outside of Houston include the Piano on the Rocks International Festival in Sedona, AZ, and the Art of Piano Residency at Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada. James is a first-year Da Camera of Houston Young Artist.

James is one half of Houston-based Duo Impetuoso with violist Molly Wise. Dedicated to mastering and re-defining the viola/piano duo canon, the pair have performed extensively in Houston at venues like the Steinway Selection Center. They have additionally been featured as guest performers at Texas Christian University and were invited to perform at the American Viola Society Conference in Los Angeles, CA in June 2024. The pair have been invited to the live rounds of the Parkhouse Award in London, England (April 2025).

A passionate performer of new music, James is frequently sought after for premieres and collaborations. He has premiered pieces by Karim al-Zand, Pierre Jalbert, Nicky Sohn, Sam Wu, Bahar Royaee, and many others. 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 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.  He additionally heads the Summer Piano Intensive 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. In fall 2025, he will begin a Lecturer position at Rice University, teaching a newly-expanded two-semester Piano Literature course at the Masters level.

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.