Conductor Philip Simmons is Artistic Director of American Music Festivals and Founder and Music Director of the Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra. He has conducted in eighteen countries, performing at Carnegie Hall, Chicago Symphony Center, the Musikverein, the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Hall, and the Great Hall of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory. In the Chicago area he has an extensive record of orchestral building, community arts advocacy, and educational outreach programming.

On July 4, 2004 Mr. Simmons conducted the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra in a sold-out concert of American music closing the Philharmonia’s season. His debut in the Philharmonic Hall was in 1998, when he initiated a new tradition of sharing American music with Russian audiences on the U.S. Independence Day. In 1999 Mr. Simmons conducted the Russian State Symphony in a concert broadcast nationally on the “Kultura” channel. For a number of years he was an Associate Conductor with the Orchestra of the Hermitage Theater, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Sochi Symphony Orchestra (recently appearing with them in a program dedicated to improving Russian-American relations). He has also conducted orchestras in the Russian cities of Yaroslavl, Novgorod, Petrozavodsk, and Kaliningrad.

Mr. Simmons has appeared on several festivals in collaboration with Chicago Sister Cities International. In 2006 he conducted the St. George Strings (Belgrade Municipal Hall) and the Dvorak Chamber Orchestra in Prague. A frequent performer in the Czech Republic, he has conducted the South Bohemia Chamber Philharmonic, Hradec Kralove Philharmonic, Czech Youth Music Camp Orchestra, and the West Bohemia Symphony. In 2001 he conducted the Razgrad Philharmonic in Bulgaria, and in 2008 served on the jury of the Dimitar Nenov International Piano Competition there. Other international orchestras he has led include the Slovak State Philharmonic, Haifa Symphony Orchestra, Thueringen Philharmonie, and the Classic Avantgarde Soloists Ensemble (his appearance was underwritten by a grant from the U.S. Embassy in Minsk). Later in 2009 he will conduct at the inaugural Varna International Arts Forum, and make his debut with the Sarajevo Philharmonic on October 30 in a program sponsored by the Bosnia and Herzegovina Academy of Arts and Sciences.

As Music Director of the Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra, Mr. Simmons works closely with Village of Lincolnwood and other local presenters. Under the umbrella of American Music Festivals, the LCO facilitates cultural exchange programming in Chicago. Founded by Mr. Simmons in 1990, the LCO was named Chamber Ensemble of the Year 2000 by the Illinois Council of Orchestras, and is one of the finest free lance orchestras in Chicago. The orchestra is unique in its ability to provide complimentary and collaborative programming with a variety of nonprofit and civic organizations. The LCO regularly participates in outreach to seniors and students, with annual side-by-side concerts and in-school visits.

During Mr. Simmons’ four year tenure as Orchestra Director at Lake Forest Academy (a college preparatory school on Chicago’s North Shore), the Fine Arts Department experienced a period of unprecedented growth which included the institution of an Arts Concentration Program and the orchestra’s first ever East Coast tour. Previously Mr. Simmons was Orchestra Director at Northeastern Illinois University and has been affiliated with several youth orchestras including the Chicago Youth Symphony, Classical Symphony, and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, training orchestra for the Chicago Symphony.

Past conducting positions include Music Director of the Russian-American Chamber Orchestra of Chicago, Lake Shore Symphony, and the Glenview Symphony. Mr. Simmons has guest conducted the Skokie Valley Symphony, Waukegan Symphony, West Suburban Symphony, La Porte Symphony (IN), and the Perrysburg Symphony (OH). Among the artists he has performed with are William Warfield, Lukas Foss, the Three Russian Tenors, Wendy Warner, Radoslav Kvapil, Anya Makarova, Philippe Muller, Charles Pikler, Emir Nuhanovic, Dennis James, David Schrader, John Bruce Yeh, Denis Azabagic, Rachel Barton Pine, and the Maxwell Street Klezmer Band. Mr. Simmons has conducted many silent film scores on the Chicago Silent Summer Film Festival. His recordings include “Impressions of Saint Petersburg”, dedicated to Maestro Yuri Temirkanov (2000), music of Alexander Tcherepnin (2003) and the 2005 film “Help Me.”

Mr. Simmons received his Master’s Degree in Music Composition from DePaul University. In 1989 he attended the conducting seminar at the Tanglewood Music Center, the last year it was coached by Leonard Bernstein. His teachers include Gustav Meier, Jorma Panula, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Alexander Polishuk, Yuri Siminov, Otto-Werner Mueller, Elizabeth Green, Michael Morgan, and Benjamin Zander.

A classical guitarist, Mr. Simmons has performed as soloist with several orchestras under his direction, as well as with the Civic Chamber Ensemble, DePaul University Wind Ensemble, North Shore Chamber Orchestra, and the Tutti Chamber Orchestra. For a season he hosted a monthly program on Glenview Cable Television called "Meet the Maestro," interviewing prominent educators and musicians in the community. Mr. Simmons served as Chair of the Wilmette Fine Arts Commission from 2006-2009. Relocating to the Big Island in the summer of 2009, he looks forward to contributing to the cultural fabric of Hawaii for many years to come.