Leeds Festival Chorus are pleased and proud to have as our long-standing Conductor and Artistic Adviser one of the most accomplished and respected musicians in the country.
Rehearsals with Simon, as well as leading us to greater levels of interpretation and performance, are exceptionally entertaining and fun.
Simon has been a professional musician since the age of 7 (as a member of the Manchester Cathedral Choir), with a career from serving as a young accompanist with the Hallé choir (working with Sir John Barbirolli) to conducting virtually every major classical orchestra in the UK, as well as orchestras in USA, Canada, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Oman, South Africa, and the Caribbean.
He has a fine discography, with recordings for EMI, Naxos and Nimbus and several specialist labels.
For four years Simon conducted the English Chamber Orchestra at the Classical Brit Awards broadcast on national television, working with Placido Domingo, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Sir Bryn Terfel, Reneé Fleming, Andrea Bocelli and Sir James Galway.
In 2018 Simon was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of York St John University.
