San Franciscan Barnaby Palmer, former music director of the late S.F. Lyric Opera (often claimed to be only dormant, not dead), has a burgeoning conducting career in Chengdu.
This ancient Chinese city (成都市), capital of Sichuan province, with some 14 million residents, is really cooking, home to 250 Fortune 500 companies and 10 consulates — and some splendid music venues.
Here's an excerpt from a feature about Palmer by Miya Yang in the Laowai Outlook:
Though Palmer was born in Hong Kong, China. he moved to San Francisco Bay area with his family when he was five ... More than 30 years later, he "came back" to Hong Kong as guest conductor for Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra then relocated to Chengdu to work with SSO.
The newly-appointed music director found China a completely foreign place, a “New World,” where he could not presume anything ...
Palmer now takes Chinese lessons every day, during our conversation, he picked up perfect pronunciations of several words effortlessly, after all he has a conductor’s ear for the subtlest nuances of sound. He speaks gently and calmly with no exaggerated American expression or prolonged vowels, even so, he has learnt how to bargain ...
For performances in Chengdu’s concert hall, instead of the usual black tuxedo, Palmer often dresses in a modern Zhongshan suit from Blanc de Chine. This outfit speaks of serenity, subtlety and harmony, which is in accordance with the way he walks and speaks.