Carlos Simon dives into inaugural composer chair role at BSO

Celina Colby

Celina Colby is an arts and travel reporter with a fondness for Russian novels.... VIEW BIO

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Composer, music educator and community organizer Carlos Simon has performed his unique compositions, blending gospel and jazz influences with Western classical chords, all over the world. Now, he’s ready to take on Boston.

In January, Simon was named composer chair for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a brand-new position that blends creating musical compositions with curating concerts and increasing community outreach.

This appointment will build on an already robust relationship between the symphony and the composer. The BSO has performed several of Simon’s works and in 2022 commissioned the piece “Four Black American Dances” from him, a meditation on the importance of dance in African American communities. A cultural narrative like that one is typical in Simon’s work.

“I like to think of my music as a reflection of the times in which we live, and that often means it’s political in nature,” says Simon. “It draws on African American historical events, culture and history.”

During his tenure with the BSO, Simon will be composing several pieces for the orchestra. To do this, he says, he needs to explore and understand the people and the character of Boston. Though based in Washington, D.C., Simon plans to visit Boston five or six times a year. A significant part of his mission during those visits is to get out into the city, to meet people and to open dialogues about music, connectivity and the city. Those interactions will lay the foundation for the compositions he creates.

Composer Carlos Simon introduces his composition “Fate Now Conquers” at Tanglewood. PHOTO: Hilary Scott

“I think it’s incumbent on an orchestra like the Boston Symphony to bring in the culture that is outside in the community onto the concert stage so it becomes a reflection of what we see outside of the hall,” says Simon.

On Sept. 29 at the Union United Methodist Church in the South End, Simon will debut the programming side of his role for the wider Boston community with a free concert of the Boston Symphony Chamber Players performing pieces by Black composers. Curated by Simon, the program features work by Simon, Jessie Montgomery, Damien Geter, Dave Ragland and Jasmine Barnes, all members of a collective of Black composers self-dubbed “The Blacknificent 7.” Tickets are free but must be reserved in advance on the BSO website.

“Too often in classical music we tend to gravitate to the same pieces and also the same type of composers, you know, dead, white, German, male,” says Simon. “With my residency I’d like to highlight music that shows different stories, particularly American composers.”

Growing up a preacher’s son in Atlanta, Simon’s first significant engagement with music was gospel. He found that the medium was a way to overcome his reserved instincts and to make connections with others. The Sept. 29 performance is a return to the church space and to his initial love of music.

“Music can really break down barriers and help someone,” says Simon. “I’m able to get past the introverted self, in service of helping people connect with the music.”