Rattle, Simon

(Denis), brilliant English conductor; b. Liverpool, Jan. 19, 1955. Rattle began playing piano and percussion as a child, appearing as a percussionist with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic when he was 11 and with the National Youth Orchestra. He also took up conducting in his youth and was founder-conductor of the Liverpool Sinfonia from 1970 to 1972. He concurrently studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London from 1971 to 1974.

After winning first prize in the John Player International Conductors' Competition in 1974, Rattle was assistant conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Sinfonietta until 1976. He made his first tour of the U.S., conducting the London Schools Symphony Orchestra that year.

In 1977 he conducted at the Glyndebourne Festival, then was assistant conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in Glasgow, holding both positions until 1980.

Rattle made his first U.S. appearance as a guest conductor with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1979, becoming its principal guest conductor beginning in 1981. He also appeared as a guest conductor with other U.S. orchestras, as well as with European ensembles. In 1980 he became principal conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, leading it on its first tour of the U.S. in 1988, the same year in which he made his U.S. debut as an opera conductor leading ALBAN BERG'S WOZZECK in Los Angeles. In 1990 he made his debut at London's Covent Garden conducting Leoš Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen.

In 1991 Rattle was named music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, which post he held until 1998. In 1987 he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. His life is captured in Nicolas Kenyon's Simon Rattle: The Making of a Conductor, published in 1987.