Sandra Simon teaches applied lessons to music theater majors and non-majors. She is also certified in Somatic Voicework™ The LoVetri Method, Levels I, II and III.
With a “voice like the sun” (Boston Globe), soprano Simon is at home performing opera, oratorio and on the musical theater stage. “A calcium light soprano of strength and sensibility…enchanted and breathtaking” (Fanfare Magazine).
Simon has performed in the United States and abroad with many fine orchestras and ensembles, including Tafelmusik of Toronto, Handel and Haydn Society of Boston, The Memphis Symphony, Apollo’s Fire, Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, Red An Orchestra, The Cleveland Pops, The King’s Noyse, Baroque harp virtuoso Andrew Lawrence King, wooden flute master Chris Norman and members of the Baltimore Consort.
On the opera stage, she has appeared in starring roles with Opera Atelier Toronto, Cleveland Opera, The Singapore Arts Festival, The Ojai Arts Festival, American Bach Project and Ex Machina Antique Music Theater, and Chautauqua Opera. Representative roles include Serpina in Pergolesi’s “La Serva Pedrona,” La Statue in Rameau’s “Pygmalion,” Belinda in Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas,” Euridice and La Musica in Monteverdi’s “L’orfeo,” Fiordiligi in Mozart’s “Cosi Fan Tutte” and Phyllis in Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Iolanthe.”
As soloist in concert, Simon’s repertoire includes “St. John Passion,” “Magnificat,” “Coffee Cantata” and “Wedding Cantata” by Bach; “Messiah,” “Belshazzar” and “Israel in Egypt” by Handel; “Vespers of 1610” by Monteverdi; “Jephte” by Carissimi; “Bachianas Brasileiras” by Villa Lobos; “Folk Songs” by Berio; and a wide range of songs from the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras.
As an interpreter of new works, she is a frequent guest of the Cleveland Composers Guild, premiered the vocalize “Winter Dream” by Margaret Brouwer at Steinway Hall in New York City, and is featured in Ms. Brouwer’s widely praised recordings “Light” and “Shattered.” Along with members of The Cleveland Orchestra, she is a member of Panoramicos, the chamber ensemble in residence at Case Western Reserve University which has been described as “eclectic in the best sense of the word…a top American pick” (Gramophone Magazine).
A longstanding member of Actor’s Equity, Simon has appeared in dozens of professional regional theater productions. Among her favorite roles are Hope Harcourt in “Anything Goes,” Marion Paroo in “The Music Man,” Johanna in “Sweeney Todd,” Lily in “The Secret Garden,” Rosa Bud in “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” Cinderella in “Into the Woods,” Lizzy in “Goblin Market,” Cathy in “The Last Five Years,” Violet in “Side Show” and Fosca in “Passion.”
Simon has also recorded for the Naxos American Classics, Avie International, Koch International Classics, New World Records, Eclectra and NPR labels.