Nicolas Simon studied violin before he took up conducting with the aim of drawing musicians and composers together in order to present live music to greater audiences and be a ‘link’ as music critic Alain Cochard has described him.

Nicolas Simon was appointed by Music Director François-Xavier Roth, as the Associate-conductor of the orchestra, Les Siècles, after having occupied the position of Maestro Roth’s assistant since 2008. Parallel to his growing activities within the well-established French ensemble, he has formed a reduced size orchestra, La Symphonie de Poche, which is active worldwide promoting masterworks alongside neglected orchestral repertoire.

To attest his recent career development, Nicolas Simon will be conducting the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, the Orchestre de Picardie, the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Rouen and the Orchestre National de Lorraine.  In Spring 2016, Nicolas Simon will be appearing at the Philharmonie de Paris as part of projects which encourage amateur musicians to develop orchestral activities and will conduct again the Palestine Youth Orchestra, following their successful tour of France in Summer 2015.

Nicolas Simon has made successful debuts with such orchestras as the London Symphony Orchestra, the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, the Durban Baroque Orchestra, South Africa as well as, in France, the Orchestre National de France (Alla Breve in June 2015), the Orchestre National de Lille, Orchestre d’Auvergne, Orchestre de Poitou-Charentes and Orchestre Régional de Cannes PACA.

In Opera, Nicolas Simon was the assistant-conductor on productions including Mozart Idomeneo (Théâtre de Caen and Grand Théâtre du Luxembourg, 2012), Richard Strauss Salomé (Théâtre-Auditorium de Bordeaux, 2013) and Léo Delibes Lakmé (Opéra-Comique, Paris, 2014). From 15-16 onwards, Nicolas will be presenting French operas from the 19th century together with mezzo-soprano Isabelle Druet and tenor Cyrille Dubois. The project will feature works by Chabrier, Offenbach, Delibes, Thomas, Bizet and Berlioz.

Nicolas Simon is Artistic Director of “Les Musicales de Normandie” festival  and has an active role in musical outreach within the Aisne region, north of Paris. Since 2014, he has also been working closely with both the choir and orchestras from Paris’s most prestigious post-postgraduate schools.