Simon Blendis

Simon Blendis enjoys an international career as an orchestral leader, soloist and chamber musician. He was a member of the Schubert Ensemble for 23 years, from 1995 until the group retired in 2018, with whom he performed over 1000 concerts around the world, leaving a legacy of over 25 CD recordings, 80 commissions, and a large library of videos on YouTube.
Simon is in great demand as an orchestral leader, and has appeared as a guest leader with most of the UK’s major symphony and chamber orchestras. He has been leader of the London Mozart Players since 2014, and has shared the position of first concertmaster with Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa in Japan since 1999. He regularly directs the LMP from the violin, and has appeared as a guest director with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, English Chamber Orchestra and the Amsterdam Sinfonietta.
As a soloist he has performed and recorded with many of the UK’s leading orchestras including the Philharmonia and the RPO, and has recorded Vivaldi’s Four Seasons for the Warner Japan label. A keen exponent of new music, he has had works for solo violin written for him by, amongst others, Tansy Davies, Stuart Macrae, John Woolrich and jazz legend Dave Brubeck, and new violin concertos by David Knotts and Jeff Moore.
In 2022 Simon released a CD of salon music called Love is Like a Violin, which has already accumulated over 8 million streams. Increasingly in demand as a teacher, he is a Professor of Violin at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

Website: www.simonblendis.com