50 Facts About Simon Rattle

Sir Simon Denis Rattle was born on 19 January 1955 and is a British-German conductor.

Simon Rattle rose to international prominence during the 1980s and 1990s, while music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

Simon Rattle has been the music director of the London Symphony Orchestra since September 2017.

Simon Rattle is the patron of Birmingham Schools' Symphony Orchestra, arranged during his tenure with CBSO in mid 1990s.

Simon Rattle received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music in 2001 at the Classic Brit Awards.

Simon Rattle was born in Liverpool, England, the son of Pauline Lila Violet and Denis Guttridge Rattle, a lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve during World War II.

Simon Rattle entered the Royal Academy of Music in 1971.

In 1974, his graduation year, Simon Rattle won the John Player International Conducting Competition.

Simon Rattle had been attracted to the college by the reputation of Dorothy Bednarowska, fellow and tutor in English.

Simon Rattle was elected an Honorary Fellow of St Anne's in 1991.

Simon Rattle was admitted to the degree of Doctor of Music honoris causa of the University of Oxford in 1999.

Simon Rattle joined the Glyndebourne music staff at the age of 20 in 1975.

Simon Rattle went on to conduct over 200 performances of 13 different operas at Glyndebourne and on tour during the subsequent 28 years.

In 1980, Simon Rattle became the CBSO's principal conductor and artistic adviser, and in 1990, music director.

Simon Rattle increased both his profile and that of the orchestra over his tenure.

Simon Rattle was appointed a in 1987 and made a Knight Bachelor in 1994.

In 1992, Simon Rattle was named a principal guest conductor of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, along with Frans Bruggen.

Simon Rattle now has the title of Principal Artist with the OAE.

Simon Rattle led two attempts at gaining the record for the World's Largest Orchestra, both designed to raise awareness of youth music in schools.

In 2000, Simon Rattle was presented with the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society.

Simon Rattle was appointed member of the Order of Merit in the 2014 New Year Honours.

Simon Rattle conducted the London Symphony Orchestra at the Opening of the London Olympics 2012, performing "Chariots of Fire" with guest Rowan Atkinson playing his Mr Bean character.

Simon Rattle made his conducting debut with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1987, in a performance of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No 6.

In 1999, Simon Rattle was appointed as successor to Claudio Abbado as the orchestra's principal conductor.

Nevertheless, Simon Rattle won the post and proceeded to win over his detractors by refusing to sign the contract until he had ensured that every member of the orchestra was paid fairly, and that the orchestra would gain artistic independence from the Berlin Senate.

Simon Rattle has ensured that orchestra members' wages have increased quite dramatically, after falling over the previous few years.

Simon Rattle gave his first concert as principal conductor of the BPO on 7 September 2002, leading performances of Thomas Ades' Asyla and Mahler's Symphony No 5, performances which received rave reviews from the press worldwide and were recorded for CD and DVD release by EMI.

Simon Rattle has continued to champion contemporary music in Berlin.

Simon Rattle himself stated in 2005 that his relationship with the BPO musicians could sometimes be "turbulent", but "never destructively so".

One musician who wrote to the press to defend Simon Rattle was the pianist Alfred Brendel.

Simon Rattle was originally contracted to lead the BPO through 2012, but in April 2008 the BPO musicians voted to extend his contract as chief conductor for an additional ten years past the next season, to 2018.

Simon Rattle is a patron of the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

Simon Rattle made his North American debut in 1976, conducting the London Schools Symphony Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl.

Simon Rattle first conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1979 during the music directorship of Carlo Maria Giulini, and was their principal guest conductor from 1981 to 1994.

Simon Rattle has guest-conducted the Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Boston Symphony Orchestra.

In 2000, Simon Rattle was the music director of the Ojai Music Festival.

In 1993, Simon Rattle made his conducting debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Simon Rattle returned for guest conducting engagements in 1999 and 2000.

Simon Rattle has continued to guest-conduct the Philadelphia Orchestra, including appearances in 2006 and the Philadelphia Orchestra's first performances of Robert Schumann's cantata Das Paradies und die Peri in November 2007.

Simon Rattle has recorded commercially for the LSO Live label.

In 2010, Simon Rattle first guest-conducted the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Simon Rattle has conducted a wide variety of music, including some with period instruments, but he is best known for his interpretations of late 19th- and early 20th-century composers such as Gustav Mahler, with a recording of Mahler's Second Symphony winning several awards on its release.

Simon Rattle has championed much contemporary music, an example of this being the 1996 TV series Leaving Home, where he presents a 7-part survey of musical styles and conductors with excerpts recorded by the CBSO.

Simon Rattle's 2007 recording of Johannes Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem received praise from BBC Music Magazine, as "Disc of the Month" for April 2007, "as probably the best new version of the Requiem I've heard in quite some years".

Simon Rattle's recording of Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem with the BPO received the Choral Performance Grammy Award in 2008.

Simon Rattle has won two other Grammy Awards, one Choral Performance Award for a recording of Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms in 2007, and another for Best Orchestral Performance for a recording of Mahler's unfinished Symphony No 10 in 2000.

Simon Rattle was elected to the inaugural Gramophone Hall of Fame in 2012.

Simon Rattle's first marriage was to Elise Ross, an American soprano, with whom he had two sons: Sacha, who is a clarinettist, and Eliot, who is a painter.

Simon Rattle is a member of the Incorporated Society of Musicians and a fan of Liverpool Football Club.

Simon Rattle announced in January 2021 that he had applied for German citizenship, describing it as "an absolute necessity" for him in order to continue to work freely around the EU after Brexit.