About
Simon Niemiński is a British/Australian concert organist, recording artist and cathedral musician. In concert and over the airwaves, his work has taken him from BBC Radio’s The Organist Entertains to Choral Evensong, and Pipedreams in the USA, and beyond. He has performed and recorded some of the most challenging pieces of organ repertoire, notably Max Reger’s Symphonic Fantasia & Fugue ‘The Inferno’ and Giles Swayne’s monumental Stations of the Cross, of which Gramophone magazine wrote “Swayne’s visionary writing is imbued with a level of powerful dramatic imagery that requires a highly resourceful organ and a particularly inspiring player to bring it off to its full effect. It gets both here ... For his part, Simon Niemiński champions this vast score with a compelling intensity that captures the visionary scope of Swayne’s writing magnificently.”
His recordings have helped to revive the music of unjustly neglected composers; for example Eugène Reuchsel’s Promenades en Provence recorded in St Louis, Missouri (“This is a splendid release... There is a lot of poetry here.” – The American Record Guide; “Simon Niemiński’s playing is utterly convincing and at one stroke establishes him as a recording artist of the first rank.” – Organists’ Review.)
Simon’s performances have included recitals at York Minster and Durham Cathedral, Notre Dame in Paris, a Royal Canadian College of Organists annual convention, twice at the International Organ Festival in Japan, and Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane town halls. He has also performed with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Northern Sinfonia, the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and accompanied the BBC Singers.
During the pandemic lockdowns, Simon transcribed the whole of Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Symphony for organ which, so far, he has performed in Sydney, Adelaide, Fremantle and Brisbane..
Born in London, Simon studied at the Royal College of Music, at Cambridge University and as Organ Scholar of York Minster. He is currently Assistant Director of Music at St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney. Before this he held posts in Scotland, at both of Edinburgh’s St Mary’s Cathedrals: Master of the Music at the Episcopal Cathedral and subsequently Organist at the Metropolitan Cathedral, and Director of Music at The Robin Chapel of The Thistle Foundation in Edinburgh.