Jan Simons

Jan Simons (11 November 1925 – 7 May 2006) was a Canadian baritone, and music teacher and administrator. Complementing a vocal performance career in Canada in the 1950s and 1960s, he was a member of the faculty of music at McGill University in Montreal and a long-time teacher and general director at the summer musical camp, CAMMAC.

After emigrating from his native Germany, Simons studied voice with Emilio de Gogorza in New York, Leslie Holmes, Emmy Heim and Ernesto Vinci in Toronto, and Yvonne Rodd-Marling in London.

Simons specialized in lieder as well as oratorio, with live, radio, and televised performances in Canada, Europe, and Japan. His solo performances include the 1956 Canadian premiere of the ballet Dark Elegies by the National Ballet of Canada, set to music of Mahler's Kindertotenlieder, the Stratford Festival's first concert, and performances with the Montreal Bach Choir. He was also a founding member of the Festival Singers of Canada. He performed frequently with pianist Michael McMahon and on occasion with Gerald Moore, Glenn Gould and even Oscar Peterson.

Simons taught voice in the Faculty of Music at McGill University from 1961 to 1993, continuing to teach song interpretation as well as vocal technique privately until his death. He also taught for periods of time at Montreal's Marianopolis College and Vanier College. Notable students who went on to vocal careers of their own include Stephanie Marshall, Matthew White, Olivier Laquerre, Michiel Schrey, and Daniel Taylor.

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