Simon Linn-Gerstein

Cellist Simon Linn-Gerstein’s interests range from classical performance to studying music as a social practice, teaching, and performing in non-traditional contexts. Simon is completing his master’s degree in cello performance at Longy School of Music, where he studies with Terry King.

Simon received his B.A. in music with a minor in anthropology from Haverford College. He graduated magna cum laude and with High Departmental Honors for his thesis, Seeing and Hearing Music: Combining Genres in Film Versions of Bach’s Six Suites for Solo Cello.  Among the films covered in the paper is the collaboration between choreographer Mark Morris and cellist Yo-Yo Ma, both of whom are Creativity Foundation Laureates. Seeing and Hearing Music is a highly interdisciplinary study, combining tools from music theory and history, film analysis, as well as sociology and anthropology.  

As a performer, Simon has appeared as a guest soloist for the Rutgers-Camden Noontime Recital Series, the Salem Philharmonic, and the Network for New Music at the Philadelphia Art Alliance. Simon also collaborated with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Richard Wernick, performing Wernick’s Suite for Unaccompanied Cello No. 1, which was featured in a concert for PBS Philadelphia. He has performed in masterclasses with Matt Haimovitz, David Finckel (of the Emerson String Quartet), and Narek Hakhnazaryan and participated in LyricaFest and the Académie Internationale de Musique Ancienne.

Simon is a recipient of the Sylvia Glickman Chamber Music Award and has performed in chamber music masterclasses with William Preucil, Charles Castleman, and the Colorado, Modigliani, and Momenta String Quartets.  He has also worked with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra to perform Webern’s Six Bagatelles for String Quartet. Simon has performed as part of numerous orchestras in the Boston area, including the Cape Ann Symphony Orchestra, Symphony by the Sea, the Salem Philharmonic, MIT Concert Choir Orchestra and the Hillyer Festival Orchestra.

Simon has interned and volunteered with organizations representing a wide variety of artistic media. He wrote press materials and assisted in outreach events for Astral Artists, an organization dedicated to promoting and mentoring emerging classical soloists, as well as for Bryn Mawr Film Institute. He also spent two years with the Public Programs Department of the Peabody Essex Museum, where he assisted with planning events combining performances with visual arts, including the annual Sensational India cultural festival, a new series of informal Summer Evening Parties, and the Human Rights Watch Film Festival. In addition to busking on the streets of downtown Salem and Boston in the summer months, Simon brings music to his local community as a faculty member at the Marblehead and Salem School of Music.