Native of Venezuela, Palacios began his musical studies at an early age. In 1982, Juan Cristóbal left for the United States of America to continue and formalize his music studies. During those student years at Boston University and later at Yale University under the tutelage of Eiji Oue and Eleazar de Carvalho, he was involved in the premiere of more than 50 contemporary works as well as works from the standard orchestra’s repertoire. In the summers, he attended the Aspen Music Festival and the Pierre Monteux School of Music.
Back on his home land, Palacios made his professional debut at age 24 appearing as a guest conductor with the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela. Later, in 1993 Palacios was appointed President and Music Director of the Fundación Sinfónica Juvenil de Chacao. Palacios where he built one of the most prestigious musical programs in the capital. He integrated the resources of a group of high-level professors and designed a program for young musicians where the disciplines of soloists, chamber music and orchestral practice were integrated as one. Young students were exposed to all the instrumental disciplines necessary for a comprehensive and complete understanding of their instrument’s development. He was awarded the order of the first class of “José María y Bote”, the highest artistic award granted by the Mayor’s Office of Chacao.
For the years 2002-2004 Palacios expanded his teaching work. He worked as a professor of Theory at the Universidad Central de Venezuela and as conductor and Music Director of its Chamber Orchestra. His work as a musician in Venezuela was interrupted by the political situation that his country was going through and in 2007 he moved with his family to the USA.
In 2010 he became part of the music faculty at the San Diego Youth Symphony and Conservatory where he was appointed conductor of several ensembles, teaching chamber music, helped on the instrumental development, as well as a member of the community music program, Opus.
His work as an educator has led Palacios to work in up-and-coming youth music programs in Guayaquil, Ecuador and the National Institute of Art (NIA) musical program in Saint Maarten. Since 2022, Palacios has been the Music Director at ELM (Enriching Lives through Music) in San Francisco, USA. This socio-cultural program provides the opportunity for low-income students to learn music and use the tools of that learning process to improve their life skills and become better citizens.
