Ellie Palmer’s parents suspected, when she was a small child, that she would end up having a career in church music. Every Sunday, before she was even seated in the pew, she would grab a hymnal from the pew rack and bookmark the hymns that were listed on the wooden wall placard.
Now her favorite repertoire is Baroque oratorio, although she has done much singing from many genres and styles. Her experiences have been with opera, oratorio, and chamber music equally, and she has sung under the baton of such greats as Margaret Hillis, William Steinburg, and Lloyd Pfautsch. As a student at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she earned a master’s degree, she was wildly blessed to study with legendary singers such as Blanche Thebom and Sir Geraint Evans and pedagogues such as John Adams and Laurette Goldberg. Even then, with so many secular distractions, her favorite performance memories were made in sacred concerts of Bach and Handel.
As her twenties came to an end and family became the priority, the touring and travel slowed except for her summer studies of choral music at San Francisco Theological Seminary and the Society of Jesus in Cape Cod. She opened a private studio at her home in Sacramento so she could be near her young children and found great pleasure in directing local church choirs and singing with area orchestras. She found joy and pride in her students as they, too, began appearing as soloists in the Sacramento area.
Palmer has arranged her life to remain surrounded by her loved ones, and she still manages the balancing act of music and family. She currently teaches music appreciation at Southeast Community College and hangs out with her grandchildren, and in 2024 she left a position at Saint Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Lincoln to devote time to Concordia University. She is excited to be teaching voice privately again and looks forward to working with students who love to sing God’s praises.