Sir Simon Rattle

Simon Rattle was born in Liverpool and studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London where he graduated in 1974. In 1980 he began an 18-year tenure as principal conductor and artistic adviser of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. During this extended period, he transformed the orchestra into an internationally renowned ensemble.

In 2002 Rattle became the principal conductor and artistic director of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. For his opening performance, Rattle conducted contemporary composer Thomas Adès’s Asyla and Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. Rattle stretched the repertoire of the Berlin Philharmonic to include many 20th-century and contemporary composers as well as more British and American composers in their regular roster of performances. Rattle’s commitment to contemporary music led to unique collaborations with composers. In 2002 Rattle launched the Berlin Philharmonic’s highly acclaimed education program, which actively reached out to people of all ages and cultural backgrounds to provide access to classical music. One of his most widely known projects was documented in the 2003 film Rhythm Is It, in which Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic work with 250 students from Berlin’s underprivileged schools to stage Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring.

In 2017 Rattle became music director of the London Symphony Orchestra. During his tenure at the London Symphony Orchestra, he announced the creation of the LSO East London Academy. The free programme aims to identify and develop the musical potential of young East Londoners. In 2021, Simon Rattle signed a contract to take on the position of chief conductor at the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks starting in the 2023/2024 season. Moreover, Simon Rattle is the “Principal Artist” of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the First Guest Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic, and maintains long-standing relationships with other top orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic or the Berlin Staatskapelle, and with renowned opera houses including the Royal Opera House in London, the Berlin State Opera, the New York Met, and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. A recent collaboration led him to the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

Rattle made more than 100 recordings. Those of note included George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess (1990), which won the International Record Critics’ Award (1990); Johannes Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem (2007), which won a Grammy Award (2008); Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and Symphony in C (2008), which won the Grammy for best choral performance (2008); Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (2010); and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in C Minor (2011).

Sir Simon was awarded a knighthood by Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1994 and received the Order of Merit in 2014. In 2019, he received the Freedom of the City of London and in 2022 he was honoured with the Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Further information about Sir Simon Rattle at the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks.