Geoffrey Simon
Conductor Geoffrey Simon has combined entrepreneurial prowess with his considerable musical talent to build an international conducting career. The founder of his own recording label, Cala Records, Simon is also featured on a number of recordings for mainstream labels Koch International and Chandos. He has appeared as a guest conductor with a number of prominent orchestras around the world.
Born in Adelaide, Australia, Simon studied piano performance at the University of Melbourne. After his graduation in 1968, Simon left for the United States in order to pursue graduate studies in cello performance at the Juilliard School. He describes his time there as formative, but intense: "If you're in New York and you're going to have a neurosis, that's the place to have it -- it was so intense, but at the same time, there were the most wonderful musical experiences happening."
In 1969, Simon moved to Bloomington, IN, so he could further his education as a cello student with noted pedagogue Janos Starker at Indiana University. That same year Simon also founded the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra. He remained music director there until he left for the United Kingdom in 1973.
Taking advantage of his close proximity to Europe, Simon studied with a number of prominent conductors including Herbert von Karajan, Rudolf Kempe, Hans Swarowsky, and Igor Markevitch. He also made a number of appearances with significant British orchestras in the mid-'70s, including the Bournemouth Symphony. Although his London debut took place soon after these successes, Simon was unable to cement himself onto a more permanent career footing. In 1977, he lost the John Player Conductor's Award to Simon Rattle.
Simon returned to the United States in 1978, first as a professor of music at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee (until 1982), and later at North Texas State University in Denton (1982-1984). For three years, beginning in 1986, Simon served as the music director of the Albany Symphony Orchestra in New York. He held a similar position with the Sacramento Symphony from 1992 through 1996. Since 1997, Simon has been a conductor and advisor to the Northwest Mahler Festival.
In between his Albany and Sacramento appointments, Simon founded his own recording label Cala, based in London. In addition to featuring a number of Simon's own recordings, the label has featured some of London's finest instrumentalists in a series known as the London Sound. Simon has also been influential in releasing a large number of previously unavailable historical recordings conducted by Leopold Stokowski.
Some of Simon's later recordings include Danny Boy: The Immortal Irish Song (2006) and Milestones: 30 Years of Chandos (2009).
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French Ballet Music of the 1920s
Geoffrey Simon, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Chandos on Feb 1, 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
De Falla: Love the Magician, Nights in the Gardens of Spain & Interlude and Spanish Dances
Geoffrey Simon, London Symphony Orchestra, Sarah Walker, Margaret Fingerhut
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Jan 1, 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
SACRED SERVICE
Louis Berkman, Zemel Choir, London Symphony Orchestra, Geoffrey Simon
Classical - Released by Chandos on Jan 1, 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
De Falla: El Amor Brujo, Nights in the Gardens of Spain & Interlude and Dance
Geoffrey Simon, London Symphony Orchestra, Margaret Fingerhut, Sarah Walker
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Jun 1, 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Rare Orchestral Music
Geoffrey Simon, London Symphony Orchestra, Derek Hammond-Stroud, Janis Kelly
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Dec 1, 1983
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ouverture de festival / Hamlet : Ouverture & Musique de Scène
London Symphony Orchestra, Janis Kelly, Geoffrey Simon, Derek Hammond-Stroud
Symphonic Music - Released by Chandos on Aug 1, 1981
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 2 "Little Russian" (Original 1872 Version)
Geoffrey Simon, London Symphony Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Sep 1, 1983
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jacob, Downey & Andriessen: Works for Bassooon
Robert Thompson, Geoffrey Simon, London Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra
Concertos - Released by Chandos on May 1, 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1 - Barber: Cello Concerto
Geoffrey Simon, English Chamber Orchestra, Raphael Wallfisch
Concertos - Released by Chandos on Nov 1, 1984
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bloch: Avodath Hakodesh (Sacred Service)
Geoffrey Simon, London Symphony Orchestra, Louis Berkman, The Zemel Choir, London Chorale, London Concord Singers
Masses, Passions, Requiems - Released by Chandos on Jan 1, 1979
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 2, Romeo and Juliet, Serenade, The Battle of Poltava & Cossack Dance
Geoffrey Simon, London Symphony Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Jan 1, 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pictures at an Exhibition (Piano Concerto Version): X. The Great Gate of Kiev
Philharmonia Orchestra, Geoffrey Simon
Concertos - Released by Signum-Cala on Jun 24, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Patterson: Mass Of The Sea / Sinfonia For Strings
Ann Mackay, Christopher Keyte, Brighton Festival Chorus, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Laszlo Heltay, Geoffrey Simon
Classical - Released by CarltonClassics on Jan 1, 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo