Conductor Philip Simmons is Artistic Director of American Music Festivals and Founder and Music Director of the Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra. He has conducted in sixteen countries throughout the world, and in the Chicago area has an extensive record of successful 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 at the Moscow Conservatory in a concert broadcast nationally on the “Kultura” channel. He has conducted extensively throughout Russia, and is Principal Guest Conductor of the Sochi Symphony Orchestra and was an Associate Conductor with the Orchestra of the Hermitage Theater from 1998 to 2003.

Mr. Simmons has performed on several festivals in collaboration with Chicago Sister Cities International, most recently in the summer of 2006 when he conducted the St. George Strings in Belgrade, and the Dvorak Chamber Orchestra in Prague. He has appeared frequently In the Czech Republic, conducting the South Bohemia Chamber Philharmonic, Hradec Kralove Philharmonic, Prague Collegium and the West Bohemia Symphony. In 2002 he conducted the Razgrad Philharmonic (Bulgaria) and will return this October to serve on the jury of the Dimitrar Nenov International Piano Competition. Among the other international orchestras he has led are the Slovak State Philharmonic, Haifa Symphony Orchestra, and the Thueringen Philharmonie. He will also be guest conducting the Sarajevo Philharmonic later this season.

As Music Director of the Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra, Mr. Simmons works closely with Village Mayor Jerry Turry and other fine arts presenters to bring the community together in celebration of the arts. Founded in 1990, the LCO is one of the finest professional free lance groups in the Chicago area, named Chamber Ensemble of the Year 2000 by the Illinois Council of Orchestras. Currently a resident of Wilmette, IL, Mr. Simmons is Chair of the Wilmette Fine Arts Commission, and has initiated a concert series at the Wilmette Community Recreation Center.

Mr. Simmons recently retired as Orchestra Director at Lake Forest Academy, a college preparatory school on Chicago’s North Shore. During his tenure the Fine Arts Department experienced a period of unprecedented growth, which included the institution of a Fine Arts Concentration Program and the orchestra’s first ever East Coast tour. Prior to that Mr. SImmons was Orchestra Director at Northeastern Illinois University and had worked with a number of training orchestras including the Chicago Youth Symphony, Classical Symphony, and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.

Other past conducting positions include Music Director of the Russian-American Chamber Orchestra of Chicago, Lake Shore Symphony, and the Glenview Symphony. In the U.S. 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 the late William Warfield, Lukas Foss, the Three Russian Tenors, Wendy Warner, Radoslav Kvapil, Anya Makarova, Phillippe Muller, Charles Pikler, Emir Nuhanovic, Dennis James, David Schrader, Rachel Barton Pine, and the Maxwell Street Klezmer Band (at Chicago Symphony Center). Mr. Simmons has conducted a number of silent film scores in performances on the Chicago Silent Summer Film Festival. His recordings include “Impressions of Saint Petersburg”, dedicated to Maestro Yuri Temirkanov (Yaroslavl Symphony, 2000), and with the LCO music of Alexander Tchernepnin (2003) and the orchestral soundtrack for the 2005 short 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. Mr. Simmons studied conducting with Gustav Meier, Jorma Panula, Alexander Politchuk, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Yuri Siminov, Otto-Werner Mueller, Elizabeth Green, and Michael Morgan. In July he will attend a masterclass at the Royal Academy of Music in London led by 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. He regularly appears in duo recitals with flutist Michele McGovern, guitarist Steve Edwards, and bass-baritone Andrew Schultze. For a season he hosted a monthly program on Glenview Cable Television called "Meet the Maestro", where he went around the community interviewing prominent educators and musicians.