Mark Simpson - About

At such a crucial stage in my development as a musician, the support of BBT is a life line. It has given me the chance to fulfil vital things necessary for my career that I wouldn’t otherwise have been able to do. Most importantly, was the chance to build a really fantastic website that brings together all the strands of my musical identity, as composer and performer. I’ve been able to purchase scores and music that I wouldn’t have been able to. And there are many other things that have helped to ease my life, and increase my productivity that I am truly grateful for. It’s an honour to be chosen as a BBT artist and a dream come true.

Mark Simpson has carved a highly successful career as both instrumentalist and composer. Finding inspiration in imaginative literary connections, his has become a distinct compositional voice with a number of acclaimed works, particularly concertos – serendipitously for a roster of fellow BBT alumni including Leonard Elschenbroich, Sean Shibe and Timothy Ridout. This latter viola concerto, Hold Your Heart in Your Teeth, was commissioned by Timothy with support from BBT and premiered by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under another BBT alumnus, Robin Ticciati.

With his BBT Fellowship Mark was also able to focus on the composition of a solo clarinet piece for himself, Darkness Moves, which he premiered online and also played live on stage for BBT’s 20th anniversary celebrations at London’s Wigmore Hall – an occasion at which he also teamed up with Alexi Kenney and Filippo Gorini for a performance of Stravinsky’s Soldier’s Tale Suite.

Equally tangible was the Trust’s support of an NMC Debut Disc, Night Music, featuring a collection of Mark’s compositions performed by an impressive array of players who were captured on a BBT film. Mark also managed to stretch his BBT fund to cover French language lessons and monies towards the purchase of a new basset clarinet.

Mark was supported with a BBT Fellowship between 2014 and 2017.

For a current biography please visit marksimpsonmusic.com

Press Releases: Night Music / Viola Concerto Hold Your Heart in Your Teeth

Photographs by Katja Feldmeier