Simon Johnson

Principal Trombone

Member since 2025, Professor at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Once I’d heard Pictures at an Exhibition at about age six I knew I wanted to play the trombone.

Simon comes from Bury in Lancashire. He studied at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester before entering the Royal Northern College of Music in 1990. During his time studying in Manchester he played with Besses’ Boys, Leyland and Williams Fairey Engineering Brass Bands.

He has performed on many occasions as soloist for Radio 3 and Radio Scotland playing pieces such as Keren by Xenakis, Solo for Sliding Trombone by John Cage, Concertos by David, Gregson and Grondahl. Frank Martin’s Ballade and Premiers by Anna Meredith of Barchan, Geddes’ Alley Cat and Francisco Coll’s Tapias as well as a short ballad by the former LSO horn player Terry Johns (‘Drac’) called One Day.

In the summer of 2017 Simon curated the Glasgow Trombone Festival in conjunction with the BBC and RCS. The festival included performances with Mnozil Brass, Jörgen van Rijen and Christian Lindberg along with the Double Trombone Concerto named Echoes of Eternity and a Concerto for Nine Trombones and Symphony Orchestra called The Waves of Wollongong.

Simon teaches at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, a position that has led to opportunities to teach and perform masterclasses all around the world.