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 Classical and Baroque Guitar at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire of Music with 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. During her studies, she participated in masterclasses with renowned guitarists including Xuefei Yang, Stephen Goss, Gary Ryan, and Zoran Dukic.

​

Shannon has a keen interest in new and experimental music and performs professionally as a soloist, as well as an ambient and interdisciplinary artist. She collaborates with creatives across film, movement, improvisation, and electronic sound. Shannon has premiered works by composers such as Oscar Ridout, Amelia Clarkson, Eloise Gynn, Maya Verlaak, Jasmin Kent Rodgman, and Sabino de Bari and she has performed at a variety of venues including Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, Chapter Arts Centre, Barbican Centre and the Southbank Centre.  In 2021, she was awarded a place on the International Guitar Foundation’s Young Artist Platform Scheme and regularly takes part in the IGF La Leona: Women and the Guitar programme.

​

Shannon’s own work is deeply rooted in embodied listening and sonic awareness. Using field recordings, she creates immersive ambient soundscapes and improvises on a variety of plucked string instruments, crafting sonic environments that blur the lines between the cosmic, the ancient, and the futuristic.

A certified Angelic Reiki Master Teacher, Shannon holds a degree in Sound Medicine, Sound Therapy, and Nāda Yoga from the Vibroacoustic Therapy Association. Shannon has completed over 200 hours of advanced embodied sound healing with the Tone Temple Embodied Sound School and has recently become a CMA-accredited practitioner of Galactic Reiki and Light Code Healing under the tutelage of Maria Lodetoft. Her practice centres healing and deep listening as transformative tools, particularly within marginalised and underrepresented communities.

​

Shannon currently works as a Music Relationship Manager at the British Council, fostering partnerships and programmes across a broad cultural spectrum, emphasising classical, contemporary, and new music in the UK, Europe, and East Asia. She provides specialist music expertise and programme management support to ensure the development of high-quality, strategic music programmes, as well as cultivating partnerships for British Council global initiatives. The British Council Music Team collaborates with the arts and culture sector in the UK and a global network of British Council offices to achieve impact and change by exploring new ways of connecting through the arts and music.

​

Shannon is currently pursuing a PhD in Black Studies at the University of Nottingham. Her research, Black Healing through Sound: Exploring Afrofuturism, Indigenous Caribbean Practices, and Deep Listening, investigates the intersections of sound, identity, and healing. She is also an Associate Lecturer in Classical Guitar Studies (BMus) at Goldsmiths, University of London.

​

 

​

​