Simon Crawford-Phillips
is a multi-festival director, renowned pianist, creative programmer with a passion for championing contemporary repertoire, and a chamber musician who regularly collaborates with artists such as Daniel Hope and Lawrence Power in repertoire from Haydn and Schumann to Adès, Byström, Dean and Reich. His own ensembles include The Kungsbacka Piano Trio, and Stockholm Syndrome Ensemble (resident artists at Stockholm Konzerthus).

Simon’s spicy and eclectic programming is reflected in an extraordinarily varied career as a conductor/director alongside his solo collaborations. In 2017 he was appointed Artistic Adviser and Chief Conductor of Västerås Sinfonietta, now extended until 2023. Simon has broadened the Sinfonietta’s reach and repertoire as well as launching the Sinfonietta’s own festival. The orchestra is embarked on a Beethoven Symphony cycle leading up to 2020 and cross-artform programmes have included Milhaud’s La Creation du Monde collaborating with jazz musician Magnus Lindgren and dancer Ida Inxi Holmlund to Mozart’s Magic Flute Overture, performed from memory and choreographed with juggler Jay Gilligan. Of the Sinfonietta’s most recent album Sydsvenskan writes “an artistic bullseye by an ensemble that promotes contemporary music but also performs classical repertoire with a twist”. Recent conducting engagements have included the Swedish Radio Symphony, Aalborg Symphony, Polish Chamber, Nash Ensemble and English Chamber orchestras as well as assisting Daniel Harding, Alain Altinoglu and Stanislav Kochanovsky annually at the Verbier Festival.

2019/20 brings debuts with Zurich Chamber Orchestra for an extensive European tour, directing Sinfonia Varsovia in Warsaw’s Lutosławski Chain Festival, and in Australia with the Australian National Academy of Music and Lawrence Power. Västerås Sinfonietta plans include a return tour to the UK, debuting Wild Waves and Woods at Kings Place with Paul Watkins and Lawrence Power before touring on, and in 2021 a new commission from Hans Ek for Finnish jazz/classical pianist Iiro Rantala to be paired with Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos.

As a pianist The Guardian says Simon has “profound sensitivity and technical brilliance, achieving an expressive intensity that made for compelling listening.” He performs in premiere festivals and concert halls across Europe including Verbier, Schleswig-Holstein, Edinburgh, and at Wigmore Hall where in the new season he will appear as the regular pianist with Chamber Ensemble in Residence, the acclaimed Nash Ensemble, and in recital with Daniel Hope and Lawrence Power. Notable concerto debuts include the NHK Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Alan Gilbert, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Ilan Volkov and more recently the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra directing from the keyboard.

Further highlights during 19/20 include multiple album releases: Simon appears on Daniel Hope’s next solo release in early 2020, Fin de Siecle - Enescu, Debussy, Ravel and Webern for Deutsche Grammophon. In September Simon releases Fanny and Felix for dB Productions, Felix Mendelssohn’s Double Concerto for Piano, Violin and Strings alongside Fanny Hensel Mendelssohn’s String Quartet recorded for the first time in an arrangement for string orchestra - both with Malin Broman and award-winning Swedish string orchestra, Musica Vitae. For BIS, The Kungsbacka Trio releases the first volume in its Complete Schumann Piano Trio Series, and the Stockholm Syndrome Ensemble releases Voices of Angels (Dean, Gubaidulina, Rachmaninov). Simon appears with the Nash Ensemble for Hyperion (Fanny Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann), and Västerås Sinfonietta’s next recording, Nightingale, features Mendelssohn Symphony No.4 plus Alban Berg and Clara Schumann with soloist Elin Rombo.

Regular collaborators include artists such as Colin Currie, Daniel Hope, Pekka Kuusisto, Anthony Marwood, Truls Mørk, Anne Sofie von Otter, Lawrence Power, Michael Schade, Roman Simović, Torleif Thedéen, and the Danish and Elias string quartets. Passionate about contemporary music Simon has recently given world premieres of music by Thomas Adès, Britta Byström, Steve Reich and Mark-Anthony Turnage as well as working alongside composers Sofia Gubaidulina, Simon Holt, Colin Matthews and Huw Watkins.

In 2014 Simon’s piano duo with Philip Moore, a long-standing partnership, premiered Steve Reich’s Quartet for two pianos and two vibraphones at London’s Southbank Centre, Carnegie Hall NY (listed as one of “The Ten Best Classical Performances of 2014″ by New York Magazine), Kölner Philharmonie and Cité de la Musique Paris.

In addition to radio and television broadcasts in Europe, Australia and Japan he has also recorded for the BIS, Channel Classics, Deux-Elles, Hyperion, Harmonia Mundi, LSO Live, Naxos, Nonesuch and Signum CD labels.

Simon is the Artistic Director of the Change Music Festival in Norra Halland, Västerås Music Festival and Co-Artistic Director of the Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival. He has also presented concerts for Sweden’s classical music radio station P2. A renowned teacher, Simon was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 2010 and currently teaches at the Gothenburg Academy of Music and Drama. Recent guest teaching has included the Schymberg masterclasses in Sweden together with Anne Sofie von Otter and chamber music at Indiana University in Bloomington and the University of Colorado.