Klaus Simon is a German classical pianist and conductor.

Biography and career

Klaus Simon was born in Überlingen am Bodensee, Germany, and studied music, German and geography at Albert-Ludwigs-Universität in Freiburg. He studied piano with

Michael Leuschner Michael Leuschner (born 29 April 1948 in Wernigerode), Germany, is a German classical pianist and professor of piano at the University of Music (Hochschule für Musik) Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. Life and work Michael Leuschner was born ...

at the Freiburg Musikhochschule, and later studied in master classes with

Aloys Kontarsky Aloys (14 May 1931 – 22 August 2017) and Alfons (9 October 1932 – 5 May 2010) Kontarsky were German duo-pianist brothers who were associated with a number of important world premieres of contemporary works. They had an international reputatio ...

, for piano, and

Hans Zender Johannes Wolfgang Zender (22 November 1936 – 22 October 2019) was a German conductor and composer. He was the chief conductor of several opera houses, and his compositions, many of them vocal music, have been performed at international festival ...

und

Johannes Kalitzke Johannes Kalitzke (born 12 February 1959) is a German composer and conductor. After studying in Cologne and at the IRCAM in Paris, he was chief conductor at the Musiktheater im Revier in Gelsenkirchen for several years, then led the ensemble musik ...

for conducting. Simon founded the Holst Sinfonietta and the Young Opera Company, and is music director for both of these groups. He is especially interested in 20th-century music, and, as accompanist, he initiated and led a series of

lieder In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French sp ...

recitals featuring music by composers such as

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...

Hans Pfitzner Hans Erich Pfitzner (5 May 1869 – 22 May 1949) was a German composer, conductor and polemicist who was a self-described anti-modernist. His best known work is the post-Romantic opera ''Palestrina'' (1917), loosely based on the life of the s ...

, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Wolfgang Rihm,

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ''Ne ...

, Frank Bridge, Gustav Holst, Rebecca Clarke,

George Crumb George Henry Crumb Jr. (24 October 1929 – 6 February 2022) was an American composer of avant-garde contemporary classical music. Early in his life he rejected the widespread modernist usage of serialism, developing a highly personal musical ...

and

Dominick Argento Dominick Argento (October 27, 1927 – February 20, 2019) was an American composer known for his lyric operatic and choral music. Among his best known pieces are the operas '' Postcard from Morocco'', '' Miss Havisham's Fire'', ''The Masque of An ...

. Simon has recorded several CDs for the Naxos label, and is slated to record the complete songs of Pfitzner and Korngold. He has also recorded works by

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

and, for the

cpo CPO may refer to: Occupations * Certified Professional Organizer * Certified Protection Officer, a professional certification for security officers from the International Foundation for Protection Officers * Chief people officer, a corporate of ...

label, Korngold's last stage work, ''Die Stumme Serenade''. Simon has also edited editions of works by

Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

and Schoenberg for Universal Edition in Vienna. These editions have been used for a number of performances and recordings. One such arrangement is of Mahler's 4th Symphony for soprano and chamber orchestra (2007).

References

External links

Klaus Simon's biography and discography on the Naxos web site

List of works edited by Klaus Simon on the Universal Edition web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simon, Klaus German pianists German male conductors (music) Living people 21st-century German conductors (music) 21st-century pianists 21st-century German male musicians Year of birth missing (living people)