simonsweeney

Simon is a professional jazz and commercial lead trumpeter on the Sydney scene. He is a product of the band program of The Forest High School from which he graduated in 1991. He graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with Bachelors (1995) and Masters (2000) degrees in Music majoring in Jazz performance.

Simon was a national finalist in the James Morrison Jazz scholarship in 1993 and a finalist in the National Jazz Awards at The Wangaratta Jazz festival in 2003.

His professional theatre credits include: - West Side Story, Miss Saigon, The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Crazy For You, My Fair Lady, The Boy From Oz, Chicago, Annie, Oliver, Cabaret, The Threepenny Opera (Company B), The Republic Myopia (for STC), End of The Rainbow (Ensemble Theatre) and Dusty. Simon also appeared as guest lead trumpet with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra for Caroline O’Connor’s “From Stage to Screen” concert televised on ABC.

He has played with Michael Buble, James Morrison, Marcia Hines, Margaret Urlich, Kylie Minogue, Human Nature, and Silverchair (live at the ARIAs).

His jazz credits include touring and recording with Mike Nock (Mike Nock’s Big Small Band Live – ABC Records), performing with the Gordon Brisker Big Band, the James Morrison Big Band, recording with Dave Panichi as well as playing lead trumpet in the Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra. In 2002 he released his debut album "Emerald City Blues" to critical acclaim on the Jazzgroove label, and in 2005 he co-produced the Mothership’s critically acclaimed debut album – “The Mothership plays the Music of Mike Nock”. Simon also recently (late 2005) played on Daryl Aberhart’s debut album “The Cat Within” featuring Daryl’s compositional collaboration with John Scofield.

Simon has extensive recording credits including playing on the soundtracks of movies such as "The Bank", and "The Extra", he can also be heard on many advertisements (Orthoxicol, Nine’s Who is Who of News, 3Mobile, West End Beer, Hahn Light, Shangri La Hotels, Mastercard, Paddy’s Markets, NIB Health Insurance, McDonalds ‘El Maco’ burger to name a few).

Simon is also active in the Latin Music scene in Sydney having played with most of the bands in town at some time or other over the last ten years! This includes having played with Saraguey, Candela, The Sydney Latin All Stars, Tigarimuna, Sonando, Cumana, Mucho Mambo, El Connexion and Son Veneno.