Violist and conductor Ben Simon has performed for audiences around the world. As a violist, Ben was a member of the of the Naumburg Award-winning New World String Quartet, the Stanford String Quartet, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Music from Marlboro, the New Century Chamber Orchestra and the Los Angeles, New York and Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestras. 

A native of San Francisco, Ben began his conducting studies in the Bay Area with Denis DeCouteau, continuing at Yale College and the Juilliard School with Otto Werner Mueller and at the Aspen Music Festival with Dennis Russell Davies. Ben has led orchestras and contemporary ensembles in the United States and Europe, and conducted performances for the theater as well as soundtracks for major motion pictures. He has taught at Harvard and Stanford Universities and has been a member of the music faculty at UC Berkeley since 1998.

Following his graduation from Juilliard in 1979, Simon played with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra for one year, and also participated in three successive international tours. Simon became Principal Violist of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in 1980, a position he held for eight years. He was a frequent soloist with the orchestra, conducted small ensembles on occasion, and spent three summers at the Marlboro Music Festival. Simon was also featured in the 25th Anniversary Music from Marlboro concert in New York City, which included Murray Perahia and Felix Galimir.

In 1988 he joined the Naumburg-Award winning New World String Quartet, performing over eighty concerts a year in major venues and summer festivals in the United States, Europe, and Asia. The quartet recorded extensively for MCA Classics; they won a 1991 Grand Prix du Disque for their recording of the string quartets of Debussy, Ravel, and Henri Dutilleux. The New World SQ was quartet-in-residence at Harvard University and performed with artists David Soyer, Raphael Hillyer, Ursula Oppens, Gilbert Kalish, Donald McInnes, Joel Krosnick, Harold Wright, David Shifrin, Carol Wincenc, Christopher O’Riley, John Perry, and James Tocco.

Following four seasons with the New World SQ, Simon joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in 1992 and was an active studio musician in LA as well. He has performed on the soundtracks of over eighty major motion pictures. In 1993, Simon joined the Stanford String Quartet, the ensemble-in-residence at Stanford University, replacing Bernard Zaslav. For the next five years, he taught viola and chamber music at Stanford, lectured on music in the Department of Continuing Studies, and concertized with the quartet. Simon was also Principal Violist of the New Century Chamber Orchestra for three seasons, 1994-’97.

In 1999, following four years with the Stanford String Quartet, Stanford University’s Quartet in Residence, Ben was asked by Crowden School founder Anne Crowden to become Director of the School. In 2002, he was appointed Music Director of the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra as well as the award-winning youth ensemble Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra.  For over twenty years he led both orchestras through periods of growth and artistic development, expanding the season and scope of the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra while conducting over five hundred MainStage, Family and Very First Concerts

Known for his creative programming and engaging teaching style, Ben is a frequent lecturer on musical topics at colleges and universities around the country.  He still loves to play the viola, especially chamber music, with his friends and colleagues.  Ben’s Monday Night Chamber Music Society, formerly known as “Classical at the Freight”, performs regularly at The Hillside Club in Berkeley. His popular Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) classes are regularly offered through UC Berkeley.