Daniel Palmizio has been described as a musician of “instrumental mastery” marked by an “unselfconscious refinement,” active internationally as a violist, conductor and professor. Of Italian and British origin, he is based in Basel, Switzerland.

He has performed worldwide as a soloist and chamber musician, collaborating with artists such as Frans Helmerson, Hansjörg Schellenberger, Salvatore Accardo and Antonio Meneses. He is a laureate of the 1st Prize and Audience Prize at the Watson Forbes International Viola Competition, 1st Prize at the Valentino Bucchi Competition in Rome, and 1st Prize at the Budapest International Competition.

As a soloist, he has appeared with orchestras including the Hungarian National Radio Orchestra, the Szeged Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kyiv National Opera Orchestra and the Orchestra dell’Arena di Verona. His recital appearances include Wigmore Hall, the Purcell Room and Royal Festival Hall in London. He collaborates with artists such as Boris Belkin, Enrico Dindo, Beatrice Rana, Salvatore Accardo and Maxim Vengerov, appearing at festivals across Europe and the United States. 

He is a member of the Corneille Collective Piano Quartet. 

In parallel with his work as a violist, he has developed an active conducting career. 

He made his debut in 2016 with the Hungarian Radio Orchestra, conducting Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony and Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante. He has since collaborated with the Orchestra Regionale Toscana, Filarmonica Rossini, Filarmonica Abruzzese,

Koszalin Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra dell’Arena di Verona, Szeged Symphony Orchestra, the Kyiv Opera Orchestra, the Nagoja Symphony Orchestra, Wuhan Philharmonic and the Sinfonieorchester Basel. 

In 2021 he replaced Ivor Bolton in a series of performances with the Sinfonieorchester Basel, conducting Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll, Britten’s Sinfonietta and Webern’s Concerto for Nine Instruments, and has since returned for further projects,

including performances of Offenbach’s Hoffmann’s Tales.

In 2021 Daniel Palmizio conducted Sinfonieorchester Basel in Stadtcasino at a gala concert in support of Ukraine.

He studied conducting with Donato Renzetti. 

Teaching forms a central part of his activity. He was Professor of Viola at the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome, where he worked with an international class of students and contributed to the training of young professional musicians. He gives masterclasses across Europe and has been invited to teach at leading institutions, including as guest professor at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.

In 2026 he will join the faculty of the Stauffer Center of Strings as visiting professor.

Since 2024, he has also been active as an artistic director, working together with Marta Kowalczyk, concertmaster of the Sinfonieorchester Basel, on two international music festivals in Poland: Warsaw’s Classics (Klasyka Warszawy)

and Evenings of the Nations (Wieczory Narodów) in Kołobrzeg, bringing together leading performers

and emerging artists in curated programmes. 

Through the Festivals he established and leads two chamber orchestras.

Palmizio studied with Bruno Giuranna in Stauffer Academy in Cremona and the Accademia Chigiana  in Siena.

He also graduated from the Royal College of Music in London in the class of Ian Jewel.

From 2014 to 2016, he was Principal Viola of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London,

working under conductors including Esa-Pekka Salonen.

His discography includes recordings of Giovanni Bertelli’s Viola Concerto with Divertimento Ensemble, the complete Viola Sonatas of Bach and Brahms, the Hindemith Sonata 1939 and Arpeggione Sonata for Nightdreamer,

specialising in direct-to-disc analogue recording.

Daniel Palmizio performs on a Giacomo e Leandro Bisiach viola.