The German pianist, conductor and arranger, Klaus Simon, was born in Überlingen am Bodensee. He is the founder and artistic director of the Holst Sinfonietta and of Opera Factory Freiburg (formerly Young Opera Company).

As a pianist his particular focus has been on song, working with internationally known singers such as Sunhae Im, Siri Karoline Thornhill, Britta Stallmeister, Tanja Ariane Baumgartner, Colin Balzer, Hans Christoph Begemann and Uwe Schenker-Primus, among others.

At the heart of his work as a Lieder accompanist are the German late Romantic and early modern composers, including, in particular, the work of Hans Pfitzner and Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

For Naxos he is recording a collected edition of all the songs of these composers (Korngold, Songs, Vol. 1 [8.572027]; Pfitzner: Complete Lieder, Vols. 1–3 [8.572602, 8.572603 and 8.573081]). A further project has been the complete songs of Erwin Schulhoff with Südwestrundfunk. His Schulhoff edition was published by Schott in January 2017. His recording as conductor of the opera Kopernikus by Claude Vivier was awarded the German Record Critics’ Prize in 2016 and in 2017 the International Classic Music Award.

For more information, visit www.klaussimon.com.