Grammy-nominated composer and U-M alumnus Carlos Simon (DMA ’17) will be the guest speaker at the School of Music, Theatre & Dance spring commencement ceremony. Commencement will take place at 2:00 pm on Friday, May 1, 2026, in Hill Auditorium.
In recent years, Simon has had premiere performances with the National Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra for the Last Night of the Proms, Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, and at Carnegie Hall for the National Youth Orchestra of the USA. Simon’s Gospel Mass, a work that reimagines the traditional mass with gospel soloists and choir, premiered with Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic. Simon has had commissions from the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera (in collaboration with Mo Willems), New York Philharmonic and Bravo! Vail, Minnesota Orchestra, American Ballet Theatre, and Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
As well as his composition work, Simon curates concert programs that often highlight his own music as well as that of close collaborators. Curated concerts have recently been programmed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Boston Chamber Players, Tanglewood Festival for Contemporary Music, and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Simon also curated and arranged Coltrane: Legacy for Orchestra, a new project co-commissioned by TO Live (for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra) and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, in partnership with the Coltrane Estate.
Simon’s first full-length orchestral album, Four Symphonic Works, consists of live concert recordings by the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. Simon also composed the original soundtrack for the PBS documentary Shame of Chicago: Shame of the Nation. His album Together is a compilation of solo and chamber compositions and arrangements featuring Simon and guests such as J’Nai Bridges, Randall Goosby, Seth Parker Woods, and Will Liverman.
Simon also released the live premiere recording of brea(d)th, a landmark work commissioned by Minnesota Orchestra, written in collaboration with Marc Bamuthi Joseph, and conducted by Jonathan Taylor Rush. Written following George Floyd’s murder, brea(d)th is Simon’s direct response to America’s unfulfilled promises and history of systemic oppression against Black Americans.
Simon’s 2022 album, Requiem for the Enslaved, was nominated for a 2023 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition. This work is a multi-genre musical tribute to commemorate the stories of the 272 enslaved men, women, and children sold in 1838 by Georgetown University. This work infuses original compositions with African American spirituals and familiar Catholic liturgical melodies, performed by Hub New Music Ensemble, Marco Pavé, and MK Zulu.
Acting as music director and keyboardist for Grammy Award winner Jennifer Holliday, Simon has performed with Boston Pops, Jackson Symphony, and St. Louis Symphony. He has also toured internationally with Grammy-nominated artist Angie Stone.
Simon was a recipient of the 2021 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, the highest honor bestowed by the Sphinx Organization to recognize extraordinary Black and Latinx classical musicians, and he was named a Sundance/Time Warner Composer Fellow for his work for film and moving image.
Simon earned his doctorate degree at the University of Michigan, where he studied with Michael Daugherty and Evan Chambers. He has also received degrees from Georgia State University and Morehouse College. He is an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Music Sinfonia Fraternity and a member of the National Association of Negro Musicians, Society of Composers International, and Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society. He has previously served as a member of the music faculty at Spelman College and Morehouse College.
Simon is currently an associate professor at Georgetown University, as well as composer-in-residence for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the inaugural Boston Symphony Orchestra Composer Chair.