Kevin, a native of Pinckney, Michigan, is Assistant Professor of Music at Saginaw Valley State University where he teaches applied and class voice, teaches classes in choral methods and music education, and conducts the newly formed Cardinal Singers and Concert Choir.  He holds degrees in Vocal Performance and Choral Conducting from Central Michigan University and the University of Oklahoma.  He is currently a doctoral student in Music Education at Boston University.  While at Oklahoma, he studied voice with Sean Daniel as well as with Gary Arvin and Marilyn Horne. His choral conducting studies have been with Susan Boggs, Steven Curtis and Nina Nash-Robertson. He has also studied organ with Donald Williams, Carol Muehlig and Steven Egler.  He was the founder of the acclaimed Canterbury Festival Singers in Norman, Oklahoma, where he was also Organist/Choirmaster at St. Anselm of Canterbury. In addition, he was Director of Music and Organist at First Lutheran Church in Oklahoma City.

 

In 2011-2012, he conducted the Cardinal Singers in concert with the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra and in an invited concert at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.  Choirs under his direction have sung at national and state level denominational functions. Well-known as a builder of church choral programs, he is frequently called upon to lead workshops in choir development and literature for the beginning choir. He regularly serves as a vocal and choral adjudicator.

 

He is active in several professional organizations, including the American Choral Director's Association, the Royal School of Church Music in America, and he is a Colleague of the American Guild of Organists. He has also been elected to membership in the Association of Anglican Musicians and the National Association of Teachers of Singing.  He serves as a Director of the Sewanee Church Music Conference, the oldest conference for musicians in the Episcopal Church.

 

Mr. Simons is currently the Director of Music and Organist at St. John's Episcopal Church in Saginaw, Michigan. Under his leadership, the repertoire of the inter-generational St. John's Choir has grown to include major works with orchestra, such as Luigi Boccherini's Gloria, Gabriel Fauré's Requiem and the Missa Brevis in D Major of Mozart as well as newer a cappella works such as the Missa Brevis No. 4 of Eleanor Daley and regular services of Choral Evensong.

 

He also served as the Artistic Director and Conductor of The Steiner Chorale, a semi-professional choir based in Lansing.  Under his leadership, the Chorale doubled its singing membership and operating budget.  In 2007, he was appointed the Choral Director for the Baroque on Beaver Island festival, where he conducts the choirs in works with orchestra.

 

Kevin resides in Saginaw with his wife Amy, his daughter Claire and their dog Winnie.  In his free time, he enjoys traveling, cooking and reading mysteries.