Simon Rattle

Sir Simon Denis Rattle (born 19 January 1955) is a British conductor with German citizenship.

He entered the Royal Academy of Music (now part of the University of London) in 1971.

There, his teachers included John Carewe.

In 1974, his graduation year, Rattle won the John Player International Conducting Competition.

After organising and conducting a performance of Mahler's Second Symphony while he was still at the academy, he was talent-spotted by the music agent Martin Campbell-White, of Harold Holt Ltd (now Askonas Holt Ltd), who has since managed Rattle's career.

In 1974, he was made assistant conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

He joined the Glyndebourne music staff at the age of 20 in 1975.

He went on to conduct over 200 performances of 13 different operas at Glyndebourne and on tour during the subsequent 28 years.

His first Prom at the Royal Albert Hall, conducting the London Sinfonietta, was, according to the BBC Proms Archive website, on 9 August 1976.

The programme included Harrison Birtwistle's Meridian and Arnold Schoenberg's First Chamber Symphony.

In 1977, he became assistant conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic.

He rose to international prominence during the 1980s and 1990s, while music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980–1998).

He spent the academic year 1980–81 at St Anne's College, Oxford studying English Language and Literature.

He had been attracted to the college by the reputation of Dorothy Bednarowska, fellow and tutor in English.

His time with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) from 1980 to 1998 drew him to the attention of critics and the public.

In 1980, Rattle became the CBSO's principal conductor and artistic adviser, and in 1990, music director.

Rattle increased both his profile and that of the orchestra over his tenure.

One of his long-term concert projects was the series of concerts of 20th-century music titled "Towards the Millennium".

Rattle was appointed a in 1987 and made a Knight Bachelor in 1994.

Rattle is also the patron of Birmingham Schools' Symphony Orchestra, arranged during his tenure with CBSO in the mid-1990s.

The Youth Orchestra is now under the auspices of charitable business Services for Education.

He was elected an Honorary Fellow of St Anne's in 1991.

One other major achievement during his time was the move of the CBSO from its former venue, Birmingham Town Hall, to a newly built concert hall, Symphony Hall, in 1991.

The BBC commissioned film director Jaine Green to follow him in his final year with the CBSO to make Simon Rattle—Moving On.

In 1992, Rattle was named a principal guest conductor of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE), along with Frans Brüggen.

Rattle now has the title of Principal Artist with the OAE.

The first, in 1996, was unsuccessful.

The second, in 1998, did succeed and the record held at nearly 4,000 musicians until it was broken in 2000 by a group in Vancouver.

He was admitted to the degree of Doctor of Music honoris causa of the University of Oxford in 1999.

In 2000, Rattle was presented with the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society.

He received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music in 2001 at the Classic Brit Awards.

Simon Rattle was born in Liverpool, England, the son of Pauline Lila Violet (née Greening) and Denis Guttridge Rattle, a lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve during World War II.

He was educated at Liverpool College.

Although Rattle studied piano and violin, his early work with orchestras was as a percussionist for the Merseyside Youth Orchestra (now the Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Orchestra).

In 2001, he conducted the OAE at Glyndebourne in their first production of Fidelio with a period-instrument orchestra.

Rattle strongly supported youth music.

He led two attempts at gaining the record for the World's Largest Orchestra, both designed to raise awareness of youth music in schools.

Rattle was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic from 2002 to 2018.

Among the world's leading conductors, in a 2015 Bachtrack poll, he was ranked by music critics as one of the world's best living conductors.

He has been the music director of the London Symphony Orchestra since September 2017.