Simon’s rich bass-baritone voice is much in demand, his busy concert schedule taking him to Europe for much of the year, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the USA. His many solo recordings include Monteverdi’s Vespers, Bach Magnificat (Andrew Parrott) and Charpentier’s Te Deum and Missa Assumpta est Maria (St James’s Baroque Players). He has recorded roles in John Blow’s Venus and Adonis, Locke’s Psyche (Envy and Bacchus), Monteverdi’s Orfeo (Caronte) and The Play of Daniel (Balthasar). He played Caronte in Peri’s Orfeo at the Drottningholms Slottsteater, Stockholm and appeared in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (Sorceress) on London’s South Bank (celebrating 50 years of the RFH). He sang the role of Caronte in a semi-staged production of Monteverdi’s Orfeo at the Royal Festival Hall, directed by Jonathan Miller, to great critical acclaim. Further performances were staged in Norway, Beijing, the Canary Islands, Luxembourg, Warsaw, Budapest and Mexico City. South Bank concerts include the Bach St John Passion (Christus) and Purcell’s Indian Queen. He has also performed Purcell’s The Tempest at the Cite de la Musique, Paris and (in 2016) Prague.
Simon Grant’s involvement in contemporary music includes appearances with the Matrix Ensemble, Electric Phoenix, Ensemble Modern, Tenebrae, Synergy Vocals and Singcircle. He works regularly with the BBC Singers, Capital Voices and London Voices. He has sung The Father in Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins many times, most recently at Glasgow City Halls with the BBC Scottish Orchestra (2016). He sang the world premiere of Where Two World’s Touch (by Helen Chadwick and Howard Moody) at the Salisbury festival and recently appeared in David Byrne’s Meltdown Festival on London’s Southbank.
Simon was a member of the Swingle Singers for a number of years. He can whistle and hum at the same time, an unusual talent he has demonstrated on numerous radio and television programmes worldwide (including Radio 4’s ‘Pick of the Week’). His daughter, Eleanor, shares this talent and they were both featured on the recent radio programme ‘The Whistling Woman’ (BBC Radio 4). Simon’s whistling is featured in the films Shrek, Shiner, Two Brothers, Sherlock Holmes and Wallace and Gromit – Curse of the Were-rabbit. Simon’s vocal ‘special effects’ were used in Hollywood for the 2007 Academy Awards, when he helped recreate vocally the soundtracks to famous scenes from movies such as Jaws (the shark approaching), Brief Encounter (departing train) and Psycho (murder in the shower). He has also appeared in several TV adverts (including Honda, T-mobile and 3 mobile).

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