Scottish Music Centre - Industry Directory

Artists | Classical | Guitar

Simon Thacker has attracted the highest acclaim wherever he has performed, from Scotland to Havana, London to Malta. His technical virtuosity and emotionally charged interpretations have established him as one of Britain’s most exciting classical performers.

With a vast repertoire at his fingertips, Simon is renowned for his exciting and innovative projects which showcase the guitar in new and groundbreaking ways, moving and entertaining audiences in equal measure, changing perceptions of the classical guitar.

In 2003 Simon was awarded an MMus with Distinction from the RSAMD, and was also the recipient of a first class BMus (Hons) from Napier University, Edinburgh, in 2001. He subsequently studied in London with the Brazilian virtuoso Fabio Zanon.

Simon is currently Head of Guitar at Napier University and is guitar teacher at St Mary’s Music School and Stevenson College, Edinburgh.

He was recently nominated for the Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist Music Award, the highest recognition for live classical music-making in the United Kingdom.

In 2007 he toured The Alternative Guitar, one of the most exciting and innovative solo programmes of classical guitar music ever assembled, featuring a commission by Kenneth Dempster. The tour included acclaimed performances at the Queens Hall, Edinburgh, as the climax of the ECAT’s season (given a five star review by The Scotsman), Musica Nova Festival and Sound Festival, among many others.

In January 2006 he performed a solo recital at the Purcell Room, Royal Festival Hall, London, as a winner of the 50th Park Lane Group Young Artist Awards, which included a specially written work by Irish composer David Fennessy.

Simon is the founder of Camerata Ritmata, a unique cross genre collaboration with Paul Harrison, Mario Caribé and Stuart Brown, three of Britain’s finest jazz musicians.

All Angels’ star Daisy Chute performs with Simon, both in voice and guitar duo programmes of remarkable emotional range and stylistic diversity, and with Camerata Ritmata.

He is also a member of the highly successful duo ¡Canto vivo! with soprano Claire Debono. Performances include: In Tune, BBC Radio 3; Ambassadorial Concert, Malta’s National Theatre; St. James Piccadilly, London; sold out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival; LSO St. Luke’s, London.

In 2002 he gave a series of concerts in Havana, Cuba, for audiences that included Ramon Castro, brother of Fidel, and Cuba’s greatest composer Leo Brouwer, as well as on live TV.

Other concert appearances include: Edinburgh International Festival with the Paragon Ensemble at the Usher Hall, broadcast on BBC Radio 3; Venezuelan Embassy, London; quintets with the Edinburgh Quartet; Hebrides Ensemble tour. Simon was part of the Yehudi Menuhin founded LiveMusicNow! scheme for several years, giving countless community concerts.

Simon will be leading his innovative nine piece East/West project The Nava Rasa Ensemble on a Scottish Arts Council Tune Up tour in 2009.