Biography

Simon Lane leads a diverse musical life, performing with both instrumentalists and singers, and his performing has taken him across the UK as well as Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Denmark and North America.

Most recently he studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Michael Dussek and Julius Drake, and was awarded the Helen Eames Prize on graduation. Prior to this he studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester with Mark Ray and Dina Parakhina. In his early life he was a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral.

Simon was the recipient of the Accompanists’ Prize in the 2009 Royal Overseas League Music Competition, and has received many other awards including the Sir Henry Richardson Scholarship administered by the MBF, a Countess of Munster Education Award, and both the Elena Gerhardt Lieder Prize and the Brenda Webb Award at the Royal Academy of Music. Together with regular duo partners Simon has been selected for the Worshipful Company of Musicians’ ‘Maisie Lewis Award’, the Park Lane Group New Year Series at the Purcell Room, the Tillett Trust Young Artists’ Platform on three separate occasions and a Tunnell Trust Award. Simon and cellist Philip Higham have also been awarded a Kirckman Concerts Society Award which will see them perform at London’s Wigmore Hall in December 2011.

Recent venues include St. George’s Bristol, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, Wigmore Hall and the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, and he has collaborated with artists such as Guy Johnston, Allan Clayton, Iestyn Davies and the Navarra String Quartet. Festival appearances include the Bachfest Leipzig, Lago Maggiore, Le Festival de Musique de Menton, King’s Lynn, Newbury, Brighton, Leeds Lieder, Ryedale, Lichfield, Deal and Lake District Summer Music Festivals. As well as being in great demand as a chamber musician, he has in recent seasons performed concerti by Schumann, Beethoven and Grieg as well as Beethoven’s ‘Triple’ Concerto.

Future engagements include appearances with artists including Guy Johnston, Philip Higham, Jack Liebeck, Peter Harvey, Katherine Manley, Katie Stillman and Yuka Ishizuka. 2011 will also see the release of a recording with Karina Lucas and Rebecca Jones as well as a disc with Philip Higham on the Sonimage Classics label.

Simon is a resident artist and tutor at Aberystwyth International Festival and Summer School.