Stephen Simon

Stephen Anthony Simon (May 3, 1937 – January 20, 2013) was a conductor, composer, arranger, and leading Handel specialist. He was a noted proponent of the music of George Frederic Handel, creating some of the first concert performance editions of Handel's operas and oratorios.^[1]

Live Performance

During the 1970s, he served as music director of the Handel Festivals at Carnegie Hall in New York City and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, conducting American premieres of such works as "Poro," "Radimisto," "Orlando" and "Alessandro," as well as such works as “Semele,” “Samson,” “Saul,” “Solomon” and “Judas Maccabaeus."^[2]” His recording of Handel’s oratorio “Solomon” with the Vienna Volksoper Orchestra earned a Grammy Award nomination in 1969 for best choral recording.^[3]

“The idea that one would have all of the operas and oratorios recorded was something that we really couldn’t have imagined at the time,” said Donald Burrows, a Handel scholar and music professor at the Open University in England. “These were three-hour works. At a certain stage, he was in the pioneering bracket of just getting performers together to do such large work.^[4]” Mr. Simon was a jazz enthusiast in college. He said he found a same exhilarating improvisational quality to classical music.^[5]

“There is a close link between jazz and Baroque music because of improvisation,” he told the Times in 1972. “Knowing the style makes you feel secure and then you can do anything — even if it doesn’t always work — and that’s exciting.^[6]”

As a symphony conductor, Simon was known for his innovative programming. From 1970-1982, he was the creator and music director of SUMMER OF MUSIC ON THE HUDSON in Tarrytown, NY. Thousands of people remember sitting on the lawns of the Lyndhurst, the Jay Gould Estate overlooking the Hudson listening to classical music performed under the tent throughout the summers.

As an outgrowth of the Handel Festival at the Kennedy Center, in 1976 the Washington Chamber Symphony, an ensemble that became the resident chamber orchestra at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. In addition to its regular season, the orchestra toured the US and in Europe to wide acclaim. In 1988, Simon, with his wife Bonnie Ward Simon, created a series of concerts for young people which Washington Post music critic Paul Hume called the best concerts for young people since Leonard Bernstein's. Their "Stories in Music Project" that created and discovered new works for narrator and orchestra eventually led to their creating the recording label "Maestro Classics" that produced the highly acclaimed Stories in Music series of recordings for children and their parents, recorded with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

In his later years, Simon was the founding music director of the Simon Sinfonietta in Falmouth, MA on Cape Cod (2004-1013). Performing at Falmouth Academy during the winter months, the series was widely appreciated by the scientific community that surrounds the Marine Biological Laboratory and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and numerous other institutions in the area.

Simon was also the music director of L'Orchestre des Portes Rouges, a chamber orchestra that performed at Church of the Resurrection on East 74th St. in Manhattan (2011-2013).

Personal Life & Education

Stephen Simon was the son of Esther Annenberg Simon and the nephew of the publishing magnate and philanthropist Walter Annenberg. He grew up in New York City, attending Dalton and Riverdale Schools. After one year at Oberlin College, Simon transferred to Yale University where he received a Bachelor of Music degree. He went on to study independently with the legendary Josef Krips. He was married to Ellen Friendly Simon with whom he had four sons, David, Daniel, James, and Adam, and four grandchildren. His first marriage ended in divorce. In 1978 he married Bonnie Ward Simon. They have two sons, Basil Ward Simon and Sebastian Annenberg Simon.

Discography

THE COMPLETE MOZART PIANO CONCERTI Stephen Simon conducts the Vienna Festival Orchestra Mme. Lili Kraus, Pianist 12 LP Records COLUMBIA P12 112806

THE COMPLETE BEETHOVEN PIANO CONCERTOS: PIANO CONCERTO NO.1; CHORAL FANTASY Philomusica Antiqua London Stephen Simon, conductor Anthony Newman, fortepianist NEWPORT CLASSICS NC 60031

PIANO CONCERTI NO. 2 & NO. 4 Philomusica Antiqua London Stephen Simon, conductor Anthony Newman, fortepianist NEWPORT CLASSICS NCD 60081

PIANO CONCERTO NO. 3 Philomusica Antiqua London Stephen Simon, conductor Anthony Newman, fortepianist NEWPORT CLASSICS NC 60007

PIANO CONCERTO NO. 5 & EGMONT OVERTURE Philomusica Antiqua London Stephen Simon, conductor Anthony Newman, fortepianist NEWPORT CLASSICS NC 60027

HANDEL: SOLOMON (ORATORIO - COMPLETE) Vienna Volksopera Orchestra Stephen Simon, conductor Endich Brooks Young John Shirley-Quirk Vienna Akademiechor RCA LSC 6187

HANDEL: ORLANDO (OPERA—COMPLETE) Vienna Volksopera Orchestra Stephen Simon, conductor Orlando Sofia Steffan (mezzo Angelica Graziella Sciutti (soprano Medoro Bernadette Greevy (contralto) Dorinda Carole Bogard (soprano) Zoroaster Marius Rintzler (bass) Martin Isepp, harpsichord RCA SRS3006

HANDEL: ARIODANTE (OPERA – COMPLETE) Stephen Simon, conductor Vienna Volksoper Orchestra Vienna Academy Chorus RCA

HANDEL: RINALDO (HIGHLIGHTS – in Italian) Stephen Simon, conductor Vienna Volksoper Orchestra Almirena - Arleen Auger Rinaldo - Beverly Wolff Argante - Raymond Michalski Armida - Rita Shane RCA

HALLELUJAH HANDEL - CHORUSES FROM 13 ORATORIOS Howard University Chorus Handel Festival Orchestra of Washington Stephen Simon, conductor ARABESQUE RECORDINGS

TARTINI VIOLIN CONCERTI in G Minor and A Major Stephen Simon Conducts the Washington Chamber Symphony Jody Gatwood, Soloist MUSICAL HERITAGE SOC. MHS 4812W

GREAT HANDEL OBOE CONCERTI AND OVERTURES 3 Oboe Concerti; Overtures to Giustino, Occasional Oratorio, etc. Stephen Simon Conducts the Washington Chamber Symphony MUSICAL HERITAGE SOC. MHS 4828K

Maestro Classics' Stories in Music Series

MIKE MULLIGAN AND HIS STEAM SHOVEL A Story in Music – Music by Stephen Simon, Stephen Simon, composer and conductor, The London PhilharmonicOrchestra, Yadu, the Famous Narrator; Bonnie Simon, elucidator

CASEY AT THE BAT A Story in Music – Music by Stephen Simon, Stephen Simon, conductor and composer, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Yadu, the Famous Narrator; Bonnie Simon, elucidator

JUANITA THE SPANISH LOBSTER Music by David Haslam, Stephen Simon, conductor, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Yadu, the Famous Narrator; Bonnie Simon, elucidator

SORCERER’S APPRENTICE Music by Paul Dukas, Narrated version, Stephen Simon, conductor, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Yadu, the Famous Narrator; Bonnie Simon, elucidator

THE STORY OF SWAN LAKE Music by Tchaikovsky, Narrated version, Stephen Simon, conductor, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Yadu, the Famous Narrator; Bonnie Simon, elucidator

PETER AND THE WOLF Music by Prokofiev, Stephen Simon, conductor, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Yadu, the Famous Narrator; Bonnie Simon, elucidator

TORTOISE AND THE HARE A Story in Music – Music by Stephen Simon, Stephen Simon, composer and conductor, Story by Bonnie Ward Simon, London PhilharmonicOrchestra, Yadu, the Famous Narrator; Bonnie Simon, elucidator

JUANITA LA LANGOSTA ESPAÑOLA Music by David Haslam, Translation by Yanitzia Canetti, Stephen Simon, conductor, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Rosi Amador, narrator

MY NAME IS HANDEL: THE STORY OF WATER MUSIC Music by Handel, Narration by Stephen and Bonnie Simon, Stephen Simon, conductor, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Yadu, narrator; Bonnie Ward Simon, elucidator

THE SOLDIER’S TALE (L’Histoire du Soldat) Music by Stravinsky, Narration by Konrad Czynski, Stephen Simon, conductor, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Yadu, narrator; Bonnie Ward Simon, elucidator

CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS Music by Saint-Saëns, Verses by Ogden Nash, Stephen Simon, conductor, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Yadu, narrator; Bonnie Ward Simon, elucidator

MERRY PRANKS OF MASTER TILL (Till Eulenspiegel) Music by Richard Strauss, Narration by Stephen Simon, Stephen Simon, conductor, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Yadu, narrator; Bonnie Ward Simon, elucidator

References