Simon Wallace

Composer, arranger, musician

Originally from South Wales Simon Wallace graduated in music from Oxford University in 1978 before studying jazz and composition with teachers in London and New York.

In 1979 he formed a writing partnership with film and TV composer Simon Brint which continues to the present day. Together they have scored innumerable hours of material including ‘A Shocking Accident’ (Oscar for best short film 1981) ‘Tracey Ullman Takes On New York’ (Emmy for best comedy show 1994). They have written and produced music for some of Britain’s most popular television shows including ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ , ‘Monarch of the Glen’, ‘French and Saunders’ and many others.

Since 1994 Simon has been writing songs with veteran American lyricist and beat generation survivor Fran Landesman. Theatre shows based on their work have been produced in London, Bath, Edinburgh, New York and Gdansk. More than 30 of their songs have been recorded by jazz singers on both sides of the Atlantic. The Obsever Newspaper recently described them as ‘one of the finest songwiting partnerships alive’.

Simon has worked extensively in theatre both as a composer and a musical director. He was MD for the West End production of ‘Elegies for Angel Punks and Raging Queens’ (1994) and supervisor for ‘Money to Burn’ (2002) . He has had work produced by the National Theatre (‘Kabaret’ 1997) and the Royal Shakespeare Company (‘There’s Something Irresistible In Down’ 1996). From 1990 to 1993 he toured Europe, Japan and South America with maverick theatre genius Lindsay Kemp playing music devised in collaboration with composer/ percussionist Joji Hirota.

As musical director for award winning British jazz singer Clare Teal, he arranged and MDd the CD ‘Don’t Talk’ (SonyBMG) as well as numerous broadcasts with the BBC Big Band and the BBC Concert Orchestra.

In 2006 his three movement ‘Fanfare and Rhapsody’ for the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, was premiered at a concert in honour of His Majesty The King of Thailand. His connection with the orchestra dates back to1987 when he was commissioned to write a five movement symphony as part of HM the King’s 60th birthday celebrations.

Jazz singer Sarah Moule's CD 'A Lazy Kind of Love' (released May 2008) is arranged and produced by Simon and features songs written by him with lyricists Fran Landesman and julie Burchill.