Chris Palmer and his operatic fantasy for bassoon.

L. Christopher Palmer was born in Holland of Canadian parents, and grew up in London, England. He studied at the Royal College of Music in London, and later at the University of Ottawa.

He lives in Halifax, and works as a professional bassoonist with Symphony Nova Scotia. He also plays piano and organ, and has been active in the community as a teacher, coach, conductor and organizer of musical events.

His training and experience in the Classical, Jazz and Pop traditions serve him well as a composer and arranger. He has written scores for Symphony Nova Scotia, the Blue Engine Quartet, the Rhapsody Quintet, and other groups in a variety of styles. As an arranger, he has worked with many East Coast artists of different backgrounds, including Meaghan Smith, Lennie Gallant, Ben Caplan and Eleanor McCain. His arrangements of songs of Leonard Cohen have been performed, recorded and broadcast by singer/actor Cliff Lejeune with the Blue Engine String Quartet. He has also arranged Gordon Lightfoot songs for J.P. Cormier.

Many of his compositions draw on Maritime culture and legend, like Pier 21 Overture, Ships and Flags: a 2012 Overture and “For Those in Peril on the Sea”. Other works include Suite de Jazz, and Overture: Juvenescence (for the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra).

Recent commissions include “Halifax, December Sixth 1917” for choir and chamber ensemble, commemorating the Halifax Explosion on the centenary of the disaster; and “Fanfare for Province House” (2019), celebrating the 200th anniversary of Nova Scotia’s legislature building.

Chris wrote his Fantasia Brilliant on Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera,” and performed it at the Glickman Popkin Bassoon Camp in North Carolina last year – his answer to an injustice: a lack of 19th century operatic fantasies for bassoon.