In the 2026/27 season, Simon will lead Mahler’s First Symphony, Haendel’s Messiah, and Verdi’s La traviata with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, among other programming. Other season highlights include his début with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and a return to the podium at Opéra de Montréal for a new production of Verdi’s Rigoletto.
He has conducted orchestras across North America and Europe, including Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Orchestre Métropolitain, Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Toronto Summer Music Festival Orchestra, Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra (Switzerland), the Lapland Chamber Orchestra (Finland), and the Göteborgs Symfoniker (Sweden). With The Happenstancers, programs have included works by Unsuk Chin, Steve Reich, Matthew Ricketts, and Nahre Sol. He has also had the pleasure of collaborating with artists such as Barbara Hannigan, Kerson Leong, Daniel Lozakovich, Matt Haimovitz, Charles Richard-Hamelin, and Julie Boulianne, among others.
Operatic repertoire remains central to Simon’s artistic focus. His repertoire includes Puccini’s La bohème and Tosca; Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Le nozze di Figaro; Strauss’ Die Fledermaus; Wagner’s Das Rheingold and Siegfried; and Bizet’s Carmen, among others. He served, for three seasons, as Edmonton Opera’s inaugural music director, and led several multidisciplinary and innovative productions, including the award-winning English adaptation of Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle, directed by Daisy Evans.
From 2018 to 2022, he was Resident Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, where he was mentored by Gustavo Gimeno and Sir Andrew Davis. He has assisted and served as cover conductor for world-class artists such as Gianandrea Noseda, Sir Donald Runnicles, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, John Storgårds, Barbara Hannigan, and Eun-sun Kim. Simon was also the Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra (2018-2024), and the Associate Conductor of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir (2020- 2022).
Simon is an alumnus of Equilibrium Young Artists (2019–2023), Barbara Hannigan’s mentorship program for early-career professional musicians. In 2018, he was invited to participate in the first Conducting Mentorship Program at the Verbier Festival Academy (Switzerland). In addition to receiving a Special Prize, he was subsequently invited to coach the 2022 Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra. In 2022, he was a finalist in the Princess Astrid International Music Competition of the Trondheim Symfoniorkester (Norway).
Born in Montréal, he studied violin performance and orchestral conducting at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal and McGill University. He has been mentored by Raffi Armenian, Alexis Hauser, Guillaume Bourgogne, and Jean-Sébastien Vallée, among others. Passionate about supporting the next generation of conductors, he teaches at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal and maintains a private studio of conducting students.
(Current as of JUNE 2026. No modifications allowed. For more information, contact Morgan Reid at Dean Artists: morgan@deanartists.com)
