We develop a new approach, based on quantization methods, to study higher symmetries of invariant differential operators. We focus here on conformally invariant powers of the Laplacian over a conformally flat manifold and recover results of Eastwood, Leistner, Gover and Šilhan. In particular, conformally equivariant quantization establishes a correspondence between the algebra of Hamiltonian symmetries of the null geodesic flow and the algebra of higher symmetries of the conformal Laplacian. Combined...