The Northwest Mahler Festival, now in its twelfth season, welcomes back maestro Geoffrey Simon to the podium for his tenth appearance as Principal Conductor.   As Principal Conductor, Mr. Simon has led all of Mahler's Symphonies Nos. 1 through 9 and Das klagende Lied in addition to Strauss' Don Juan, Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Der Rosenkavalier Suite and Festliches Praeludium; Debussy's La Cathédral engloutie; Ravel's La Valse, Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, the Shostakovich Festive Overture, Stravinsky's Symphonies of Wind Instruments, Copland's El Salon Mexico,  Barber's Prayers of Kierkegaard and Walton's Portsmouth Point Overture.  In 2003, Mr. Simon was appointed Music Director in addition to his duties as Principal Conductor.

A native of Australia, Geoffrey Simon has appeared in London with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra and English Chamber Orchestra. He has conducted orchestras and opera in the United States, Russia, Germany, Austria, Holland, Spain, Israel, Japan, China and Australia.

He has been Music Director of the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra (Indiana), Albany Symphony Orchestra (New York), Sacramento Symphony (California) and Orquestra Simfònica de Balears “Ciutat de Palma”.

A student of Herbert von Karajan, Rudolf Kempe, Hans Swarowsky and Igor Markevich, he was a major prize-winner at the first John Player International Conductors’ Competition.

In addition to performing the classical literature, Geoffrey Simon has developed programming which spans some twenty non-European cultures.