Simon Jones

Simon Jones has established himself over the last 35 years as one of the UK’s leading baroque string specialists. He was the first ever leader of the European Baroque Orchestra, and spent the first ten years of his career touring and recording with all of the UK’s leading period instrument groups. 

He performed and recorded with, amongst others, Sir John EliotGardiner, Sir Roger Norrington and Christopher Hogwood, and at one point he held three principal seats simultaneously. 

In 1997 Simon was appointed concertmaster of The King’s Consort, undertaking a busy recording and international touring schedule for the next seven years.Simon also has a distinguished academic background, having studied at Bristol, Oxford and York universities, and being awarded his PhD in 2003. 

In 2004, he took on the position of Head of Historical Performance at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, combining this with work as concertmaster for several ensembles including Gramophone award-winning ensembles The Dunedin Consort and Arcangelo. 

In 2012 he was appointed Head of Strings at RWCMD where he now oversees one of the UK’s top string departments. Performance remains an important part of Simon’s professional activity, and this has involved everything from solo recitals, to chamber recordings and commercial TV and film recording – including playing for a Harry Potter soundtrack in Abbey Road. 

He is a regular guest leader of award-winning UK ensembles such as The Sixteen and Florilegium, as well as running and directing his own chamber ensemble Réjouissance.

Simon combines these various roles with external consultancies, examining roles at other institutions and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.  For twelve years he was a diploma examiner for the ABRSM and he is especially proud to be closely involved with the European String Teachers’ Association.

In 2016 Simon was awarded a coveted National Teaching Fellowship, making him the only UK conservatoire Head of Strings ever to receive this accolade.