Performer Biography

John Simmons

John Simmons, pianist, Coach, CIM Opera Theater, has appeared in numerous recitals in Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy and the U.S. His studies include a piano performance diploma from the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna, Austria, where he was a student of Paul Badura-Skoda.

He was a pianist/coach for the Opera House in Graz, Austria for two seasons and a teaching assistant at the Hochschule in Graz. After returning to the U.S., he received a master’s degree from the Peabody Conservatory in piano performance as a student of Yoheved Kaplinsky.

Mr. Simmons has coached, taught and performed at AIMS in Graz, the Spoleto Festival USA, Lincoln Center Festival, Centro Studi Italiani, The Amalfi Coast Music Festival and the Shaker Mountain Festival. He was an associate coach at the Juilliard Opera Center for three years and was on the coach staff faculty at the CW Post campus of Long Island University for six years. Mr. Simmons has performed frequently at Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall and the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York. He completed three concert tours of Europe featuring works of Pavel Haas and Viktor Ullmann, and also gave the New York premieres of Viktor Ullman’s Cornet and Ernst Krenek’s What Price Confidence.

Mr. Simmons has performed with such artists/ensembles as Jonas Kaufmann, Christopher Maltman, John Aler, the London Symphony Chorus, the Westminster Choir, the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago and the Spoleto Festival Orchestra. He was assistant conductor for the Lincoln Center Festival and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor productions of The Silver River by Bright Sheng in summer 2002 and January 2007. He was also music director and pianist for NY Opera Project’s production of Samuel Barber’s Vanessa in spring 2004. While in New York, Mr. Simmons played in the voice studios of many well-known teachers, including Doris Yarick Cross and Anna Moffo. He was a guest professor of collaborative piano for the 2004-2005 school year at Rutgers University. Mr. Simmons was appointed to the CIM Faculty in 2005.