- Position:
- Collaborative Piano Tutor and Vocal Coach
- Department:
- Keyboard, Vocal and Opera
Biography
Simon read music at King’s College, Cambridge and studied piano at the Royal Academy of Music. He is currently a professor of Collaborative Piano and co-ordinates the collaborative piano course at the Royal College of Music. He is an official accompanist for the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition
Expertise
Performance highlights have included his own series at the Wigmore Hall on the songs of Joseph Marx; recitals at venues including Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw and the Mozarteum as well as festivals including Edinburgh, Ravinia and Verbier. He performs with singers from the UK and Europe including Benjamin Appl, Ilker Aracayürek, Karen Cargill, Stéphane Degout, Christiane Karg, Sally Matthews, Mark Padmore, Christoper Purves, Nicky Spence and Lawrence Zazzo. He is often heard on BBC Radio 3 and frequently performs with the younger generation of singers including Soraya Mafi, Julien Van Mellaerts and Kitty Whately.
Notable Achievements
Vocal recordings include two recital discs with Stéphane Degout, a recital disc with Dame Felicity Palmer, Mahler songs with Karen Cargill, Jonathan Dove songs with Kitty Whately, C.W. Orr Songs with Mark Stone and two Schubert discs with Ilker Arcayürek. His recording of contemporary works with violinist Carolin Widmann received a Diapason D’or. The disc “Poémes d’un jour” with Stéphane Degout was chosen as best new classical album of the month for Gramophone Magazine.