John Palmer (1959) is a British composer, pianist, musicologist, and university professor.

John Palmer began his music career as a pianist and keyboard player in the mid-seventies. In the 1980s he studied piano with Grazia Wendling and Eva Serman at the Lucerne School of Music (Musikhochschule Luzern), Switzerland, while attending courses in composition with Edison Denisov and Vinko Globokar. He continued his composition studies in London at Trinity College of Music, Royal Holloway, University of London and at City University London where he obtained a PhD in composition in 1994. Further studies include composition with Vinko Globokar at the Dartington Summer School and privately with Jonathan Harvey, analysis with Jonathan Cross at the University of Bristol, and conducting with Alan Hazeldine at the Guildhall School of Music And Drama in London. Since 1987 Palmer's works has focused on orchestral, instrumental, vocal, chamber music, and electroacoustic composition. Palmer is professor of Hörerziehung (Listening Education) at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart.