Well-orchestrated career moves

After more than a quarter-century since he departed Atlanta, conductor Michael Palmer is returning to become director of orchestras at Georgia State University.

Palmer, 58, began his professional career here at age 21 when he became assistant conductor of the Atlanta Symphony at the invitation of then-music director Robert Shaw. Palmer was later promoted to associate conductor. While with the ASO, he founded the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra. Palmer left Atlanta in 1977 when he was appointed music director of the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, moved east in 1989 to direct the New Haven Symphony in Connecticut, then moved back to Kansas 10 years later to be director of orchestras at Wichita State University.

In 1991, Palmer founded the critically acclaimed 40-member American Sinfonietta, with which he has often been broadcast on National Public Radio. He also founded the Bellingham Festival of Music in Washington in 1993, where he conducts every August. The 2004 festival runs through Aug. 22, after which Palmer will jet to Atlanta just in time for the start of GSU's fall semester.

"That's really exciting," says Christina Smith, principal flutist of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, of Palmer's GSU appointment. Smith played in the Bellingham Festival's orchestra for eight summers, so she knows Palmer's capabilities well, and especially admires the lyrical qualities of his conducting style. "He's an excellent musician, a great conductor, and he's also a great teacher and educator. I think it's going to be a great boost for Georgia State's music school."

Palmer's debut concert as director of the GSU Symphony Orchestra is Sunday, Oct. 10, at the Rialto Center for the Performing Arts. -- Mark Gresham