Donemus Webshop — Simons, Marijn

Marijn Simons (The Netherlands, 1982) is an internationally acclaimed composer. His works have been commissioned and performed by such conductors and soloists as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Marin Alsop, Peter Eötvös, James MacMillan, Jun Märkl, Marcus Bosch, Christian Lindberg, Evelyn Glennie, Colin Currie, Liza Ferschtman, Dorothee Oberlinger, and by orchestras and ensembles such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Bruckner Orchestra Linz, Rotterdam Philharmonic, The Hague Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Aachen Symphony Orchestra, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra, Cuarteto Latinoamericano, Tambuco Percussion Ensemble, St. Michael Thorn Wind Orchestra, and the 12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic.

Simons was Composer-in-Residence at the Cabrillo Festival, Delft Chamber Music Festival, Orlando Festival, and the Zeitgenossen festival. His compositions have been performed at concert venues such as the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Konzerthaus Dortmund, the Cologne Philharmonic Hall, the Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles), the National Centre for the Arts (Mexico City), and the Hanoi Opera House. He has received the Philip Morris Arts Prize, the Limburg Culture Award, and the Wim Bary Perspective Award. His composition, The City of the Soul, was awarded Best Dutch Choral Composition in 2001. The labels Composers’ Voice, Etcetera, NorthWest Classics, Quintone, Amstel Records, and Erasmus have released recordings of his music.

In October 2014, his first opera, Emilia Galotti, premiered at the Koblenz Theatre and in September 2021, his chamber opera Lachesis premiered at the Linz State Theatre. From May to August 2023, Woyzeck, ein OpernSpiel, was performed at the Aalen Theatre and the Opera Festival Heidenheim, with a revival in January 2024. His fourth opera, The Kidnapping of Charlie Chaplin, is to be premiered in 2028 at the Linz State Theatre.

Simons has conducted, amongst others, the WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, Aachen Symphony Orchestra, New Music Ensemble Aachen, Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie (Koblenz), Cappella Aquileia (Heidenheim), Audite Nova Ensemble (Heidenheim), Orquesta Sinfónica del IPN (Mexico City), National Radio Chamber Orchestra (Bucharest), State Philharmonic Orchestra of Sibiu, St. Petersburg Chamber Orchestra, Nieuw Amsterdams Peil, Simons Ensemble, and the Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno. Programmes often include his works or premieres by composers such as Gabriela Ortiz, Fazil Say, Christian Lindberg, and Willem Jeths. With the Kharkiv Philharmonic, Simons conducted the first performance in Ukraine of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, including the symphonic movement Blumine. With the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Guatemala, he did the Guatemalan première of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 6.

Simons has also performed worldwide as a violinist. Highlights from his solo career include the world premiere of Villa-Lobos’s violin concerto Fantasia de Movimentos Mixtos with the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico conducted by Enrique Diemecke, the Italian premiere of Milhaud’s 2nd violin concerto with the Orquesta Sinfónica Siciliana, and the Dutch premiere of MacMillan’s violin concerto A Deep but Dazzling Darkness with the Radio Chamber Orchestra conducted by the composer. In 2022 and 2023, he performed the complete Beethoven and Brahms violin sonatas at the Liberme Castle in Belgium, where he also performed Brahms' and Ligeti's Horn Trios with Laurens Woudenberg, principal hornist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. From 2022 to 2026, he was the Artistic Director of the Liberme Chamber Orchestra and the chamber music series at the Liberme Castle.

Simons studied violin with Prof Saschko Gawriloff, composition with Daan Manneke and Sir James MacMillan, and conducting with Ed Spanjaard, Jean-Bernard Pommier, and Prof Kenneth Kiesler.

In April 2026, he received the royal honour of Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau.