MUSE • Musicians United for Social Equity

Biography

Nalah Aiden Palmer (she/her) is an African-American multi-genre composer and violinist. Born in July 2003 in St. Petersburg, Florida, Nalah grew up in DC and Maryland. Palmer started violin at seven years old, taking private lessons with Dr. Megan Yanik through Capitol Hill Arts Workshop in Washington D.C. up until high school while participating in DC Youth Orchestra and attending Interlochen’s Summer Arts Camp in 2014 and New England Music Camp in 2019. She attended Duke Ellington School of the Arts (DESA) and continued private lessons under Heather Haughn as well as playing first violin in the DESA Full Orchestra and String Orchestra all four years of attendance, both of which won several nation-wide awards. Palmer held the role of Concert Master her last year at Duke Ellington, as well as participating in the school’s string Quartet, Virtuosi. While in Virtuosi, Palmer worked with the Kronos Quartet on two pieces.

In 2020 Palmer worked with Averno (created by Morgan Smith) and New York Theatre Barn on two album musicals that Broadway Records produced and released. Palmer composed and performed violin for Willow: A New Musical, music written by August Greenwood, and Over And Out: A New Musical, music written by Sushi Soucy. Palmer continued to work with both Greenwood and Soucy and is now co-writing/scoring Two Maiden Ladies, a stage production with August Greenwood. She currently attends Penn State University studying music composition with Dr. Baljinder Sekhon.

Palmer’s composition inspiration blossomed from her joy of playing violin, specifically orchestral and ensemble pieces. Influenced by composers like Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, and Bernstein, Palmer is planning her career around music and hopes to continue working in the musical theatre scene as well as venturing into video game and film territory.