Philip Simmons has conducted in twenty-two countries, performing in Carnegie Hall, Chicago Symphony Center, the Musikverein, and the Great Halls of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory and Saint Petersburg Philharmonia. Artistic Director of American Music Festivals, he serves as Music Director of the Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra and Resident Conductor for the Orchestra of the Hawaiian Islands. Recently he created “New Frontiers in Hawaiian Music,” bringing music to new audiences throughout the world.

After studying with instructors at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, Mr. Simmons conducted extensively throughout the former Soviet Union. He was an Associate Conductor with the Orchestra of the Hermitage Theater and Principal Guest Conductor of the Sochi Symphony Orchestra. In 1999 he conducted a nationally broadcast concert with the Russian State Symphony (Moscow), and in 2004 the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic. As a guest of the US Embassy in Minsk, in 2012 he led the premiere of “West Side Story” with the State Musical Theater of Belarus.

Mr. Simmons conducted the Sarajevo Philharmonic in the National Theater of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2009. Working with Chicago Sister Cities International, he directed the President’s Orchestra (Moscow 2001), St. George Strings (Belgrade 2006), and the Dvorak Chamber Orchestra (Prague 2006). A frequent guest conductor in the Czech Republic, he has led the South Bohemia Chamber Philharmonic, Hradec Kralove Philharmonic, Prague Collegium Orchestra, and West Bohemia Symphony (1995 and 2017). As part of “American Music Festivals in Mexico, 2023” he conducted orchestras in Guadalajara, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas, and Zapopan. Among other international orchestras he has conducted include the Varna Chamber Orchestra, Slovak State Philharmonic, Haifa Symphony, Thüringen Philharmonic, and Ensemble Orchestra Sendai.

In 1990 Mr. Simmons founded the Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra. Part of American Music Festivals, the orchestra partners with civic, cultural, educational, and presenting organizations to facilitate concerts and programs of cultural exchange promoting diversity throughout Chicago. The orchestra was named “Chamber Ensemble of the Year 2000” by the Illinois Council of Orchestras. It was featured on the 2016 “Sir Georg Solti Memorial Festival” alongside Grammy Award winners Chicago Pro Musica and musicians appointed to the Chicago Symphony by Maestro Solti. Mr. Simmons’ previous conducting positions include Music Director of the Lake Shore Symphony (1994-2001), Glenview Symphony, and the Russian-American Chamber Orchestra of Chicago. He has performed with the Skokie Valley Symphony, Waukegan Symphony, La Porte Symphony (IN), Perrysburg Symphony (OH), Missouri Symphony, and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. As an educator he served as Orchestra Director at Northeastern Illinois University, Lake Forest Academy, and has guest conducted the Chicago Youth Symphony.

A Hawaii resident since 2009, Mr. Simmons founded the Orchestra of the Hawaiian Islands, which has given concerts and outreach programming on the Big Island and Oahu. In April of 2018 he assisted Maestro Leonard Slatkin (now Artistic Contributor to American Music Festivals) for his concert cycles with the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Simmons is passionately committed to helping sustain the vibrant orchestral tradition in Honolulu as a conductor, educator, and advocate for the fine arts.

Among the soloists he has performed with are William Warfield, Lukas Foss, the Three Russian Tenors, Radoslav Kvapil, Philippe Muller, Albert Igolnikov, John Bruce Yeh, Charles Pikler, David Schrader, Denis Azabagic, Wendy Warner, Rachel Barton Pine, Danny Akaka, Jr., Van Gilmer, and the Maxwell Street Klezmer Band. He has conducted numerous silent film scores on the Chicago Silent Summer Film Festival and as a champion of new music led world premieres by Ilya Levinson, Jaroslaw Golembiowski, and Gong Qian Yang. Among his recordings are “Impressions of Saint Petersburg” (Yaroslavl Symphony, dedicated to Maestro Yuri Temirkanov, 2000), music of Alexander Tcherepnin (2003), and the soundtrack to the award-winning short film “Moonlight” (2013).

His conducting teachers include Gustav Meier, Jorma Panula, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Alexander Polishuk, Michael Morgan, Yuri Siminov, Otto-Werner Mueller, and Elizabeth Green. In 1989 he attended the conducting seminar at Tanglewood, the last year it was coached by Leonard Bernstein. Mr. Simmons received his Master’s Degree in Music Composition from DePaul University. His most recent orchestral compositions include “Soul of America” and several works in the New Frontiers in Hawaiian Music series: “Koa Suite,” “Hualalai Rhapsody,” and Threnody for Lahaina.”

A classical guitarist, Mr. Simmons has performed as soloist with every orchestra under his musical direction, as well as with the DePaul University Wind Ensemble and North Shore Chamber Orchestra. Currently he accompanies his 13-year-old daughter in the duo “Penelope and the Day” performing Disney songs and popular standards. For a season he hosted ‘Meet the Maestro,” a monthly program on Glenview (IL) Cable Television. He also served as Chair of the Wilmette (IL) Fine Arts Commission from 2006-2009.