Violinist SIMONE PORTER is an emerging artist of impassioned energy, interpretive integrity, and vibrant communication. She has debuted with the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Seattle and Pittsburgh Symphonies, and with renowned conductors including Stéphane Denève, Gustavo Dudamel, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Donald Runnicles, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Simone made her professional solo debut at age 10 with the Seattle Symphony and her international debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London at age 13. In March 2015, Simone was named a recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant.
Simone’s 2026-27 season features returns to the Virginia, Princeton, Eugene, Colorado, and Pasadena Symphonies and debuts with the Greensboro, Gonzaga, and Port Angeles Symphonies. She will also return to the Oregon Symphony, where she currently serves as Artist-in-Residence through the 2027-28 season. Internationally, Simone has performed with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra with Gustavo Dudamel, and with major orchestras in Brasil, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
2025 marked the release of Simone’s highly acclaimed first solo album ad tendo on the Bright Shiny Things label. The album received a five-star review from BBC Music Magazine and a nomination for the magazine’s 2026 Newcomer Award.
Simone made her Carnegie Zankel Hall debut in 2008 on the Emmy Award-winning TV show From the Top at Carnegie Hall and her debut at Carnegie’s Stern Auditorium in 2016. She returned to Carnegie in December of 2024 with cellist Joshua Roman as a part of their Well-Being Concert. In June 2016, her featured performance of music from Schindler’s List with Maestro Gustavo Dudamel was broadcast on the TNT Network in a tribute to John Williams.
Raised in Seattle, Washington, Simone studied with Margaret Pressley as a recipient of the Dorothy Richard Starling Scholarship, and then attended the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles in the studio of Robert Lipsett. She performs on a 1740 Carlo Bergonzi violin made in Cremona Italy on generous loan from The Master’s University, Santa Clarita, California.
Photo by Alexandra Aksentieva
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