BIOGRAPHY
Shannon-Latoyah Simon is a classical guitarist and interdisciplinary artist from Northamptonshire. She started playing the guitar at the age of 9 under the tuition of John Draper. In 2016 she completed a BMus Degree under the tuition of Mark Eden and Mark Ashford at the Birmingham Conservatoire of Music. She has performed in many masterclasses with established guitarists such as Xuefei Yang, Stephen Goss, Gary Ryan and Zoran Dukic. Shannon completed a Master's Degree at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in 2019 under the tuition of Graham Anthony Devine.
Shannon has a keen interest in experimental and new music, experimental music and audio-visual art. She continues to perform professionally as a solo and interdisciplinary artist, working on projects involving art, film, movement, improvisation and electronic sound. Using her personal collection of field recordings, compiled over the past twelve years, she improvises on a range of plucked instruments such as the lapsteel, zither, baroque guitar, and sitar.
In 2015 she won first place in the Philip Bates Prize with her performance of Sam Leith Taylor’s piece ‘SOP two, twice – cool air’. In 2016 she won first and joint second place in the Philip Bates Prize with her performance of a selection of Sam James's songs from his debut album 'Sleep'. Shannon has recently performed premieres of new works by Amelia Clarkson, Eloise Gynn, Maya Verlaak, and Sabino de Bari and is due to perform a new work commissioned by Errollyn Wallen at Kings Place in the London Guitar Festival. She is currently on the International Guitar Foundation's Young Artist Platform Scheme and regularly premieres new works in their La Leona: Women and the Guitar project.
Shannon is an Angelic and Usui Reiki Master Teacher and has recently obtained her degree in Sound Medicine, Sound Therapy and Nāda yoga with the Vibroacoustic Therapy Association. In 2021 she became a Trinity Laban Ignite awardee which enabled her to use her music to create safe spaces through the use of meditation, experimental music, music therapy and trauma-informed practice for marginalised and underrepresented communities.