"Perhaps the best thing I've heard all year"
Clive O'Connell on 3MBS FM, Melbourne, October 2009
Simon Martyn-Ellis began playing the lute after finding the classical guitar repertoire too restrictive for ensemble
performance: continuo accompaniment remains a mainstay of his activities. Simon completed an Honours degree
at the University of New England in performance on the lute and related instruments in 1994, studying with
Tommie Andersson. He has undertaken summer courses and private lessons with Hopkinson Smith, Jakob
Lindberg and William Carter, and completed postgraduate study with Rolf Lislevand at the Trossingen Hochschule
für Musik, Germany.
Since moving to Germany in late 2002, Simon has appeared frequently with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Neue Hofkapelle München, Neue Düsseldorfer Hofkapelle, and the Freiburger Barockorchester, and with La Cetra Basel, the Balthasar-Neumann Ensemble, Main Barockorchester, Erato Ensemble, the Accademia de Santa Cecelia Orchestra in Rome, as well as in a variety of chamber music performances. He is a co-founder of the prize winning ensemble Cadenza.
In Australia, he appeared in the Melbourne and Adelaide International Festivals with Collegium Vocale Gent and
Ensemble 415 respectively. Simon has also appeared with leading Australian groups, including Opera Australia
and the Adelaide and Melbourne symphony orchestras, and chamber ensembles such as the Elysium Ensemble,
Salut! Baroque and the Sirius Ensemble.