BIOGRAPHY

Shannon-Latoyah Simon is a classical guitarist and interdisciplinary artist from Northamptonshire. She began playing guitar at the age of nine under the tutelage of John Draper. Shannon studied the Classical Guitar and Baroque Guitar at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire of Music under the tuition of Mark Eden and Mark Ashford, followed by a Master’s Degree at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance Under the tuition of Graham Devine. Throughout her studies, Shannon participated in masterclasses with renowned guitarists such as Xuefei Yang, Stephen Goss, Gary Ryan, and Zoran Dukic.

Shannon has a keen interest in new and experimental music and she performs professionally as a soloist, ambient and interdisciplinary artist in the UK grassroots music scene. She collaborates with artists on projects involving film, movement, improvisation and electronic sound. Using field recordings, she creates soundscapes and improvises on various plucked instruments such as the lap steel, zither, baroque guitar, and sitar. Shannon has premiered works by composers such as Amelia Clarkson, Eloise Gynn, Maya Verlaak, Jasmin Kent Rodgman and Sabino de Bari. In 2021 Shannon was an International Guitar Foundation's Young Artist Platform Scheme awardee and she regularly participates in their "La Leona: Women and the Guitar" programme.

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.

Shannon is due to start a PhD in Black Studies at the University of Nottingham in order to develop her sound practice. Her research topic is 'Black Healing through Sound: Exploring Afrofuturism, Indigenous Caribbean Practices and Deep Listening'