Simon Capet is an English

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

and

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

. He notably founded the Victoria Philharmonic Choir in 2005 and the Euphonia Music Festival in 2006. A graduate of the

Vancouver Film School Vancouver Film School (VFS) is a private entertainment arts school located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1987, it has achieved international recognition. The Vancouver Film School has campus locations around Downtown Vancouve ...

, his 2000 musical drama film ''Evirati'' won him the Telefilm Canada Award for Best Emerging Director of a Short Film at the

Vancouver International Film Festival The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for two weeks in late September and early October. The festival is operated by the Greater Vancouver International Film Festi ...

and the award for Best Short Screenplay at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival. Born into a family of professional musicians, Capet grew up in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. At the age of 15 he entered the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

and later attended the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

(RAM) on an exhibition scholarship. After graduating from the RAM in 1990, Capet served as music director of multiple ensembles over the next several years, including the Pegasus Ensemble, Battersea Arts Centre Opera, The Middlesex Philharmonic, and the Harrow Symphony Orchestra. In 1995 he was appointed the Music Coordinator and Assistant Conductor for the

Vancouver Opera Vancouver Opera is the second largest performing arts organization in British Columbia and the largest opera company in western Canada. Its mainstage performances occur in the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, other venues in Vancouver and occasionally el ...

. He later became the Music Director of the Modern Baroque Opera in Vancouver for three years, winning a Brian McMaster Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera and a Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award for his work with the company. In 2005 Capet founded the Victoria Philharmonic Choir (VPC), serving as its principal conductor until 2008 when Peter Butterfield succeeded him. With the choir he notably organized a re-imagined version of

Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8September 18411May 1904) was a Czech composer. He frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia, following the Romantic-era nationalist example of his predec ...

's '' The Spectre's Bride'' which used a new modernized English

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

by Mollie Kaye, shadow puppets by

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

winning puppeteer Tim Gosley, and set designs by

Pixar Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney ...

's Michel Gagne. Capet has worked as a freelance conductor for over 20 years, guest conducting orchestras in North America and Europe. In 2009 he made his Carnegie Hall debut conducting concerts with The New York Pops. In 2012 Capet created Classical Social, a weekly jam session for classical musicians to get together, play, socialize and have a beer at Fionn MacCool's, a local pub in downtown Toronto. Highly successful, the Sunday night socials are drawing musicians from all over who revel in the joy of just playing for the fun of it, and audiences who get a live, lively and well played concert for free. Capet is a cofounder of the orchestral ensemble euphonia, a group of dynamic musicians who share the objective of creating new audiences for live performances of classical music. In April 2013 euphonia became the new house band at Lula Lounge, a famous nightclub in Toronto and performs there on the second Monday of every month. Under Capet's direction euphonia is changing perceptions of classical music and growing a new extremely enthusiastic audience.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Capet, Simon English male conductors (music) Alumni of the Royal College of Music Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Vancouver Film School alumni Living people Film directors from London Film directors from Vancouver 21st-century English conductors (music) 21st-century English male musicians Year of birth missing (living people)