Tara Simoncic

Photo: Carlos Gutierrez.

Tara Simoncic’s multi-genre career spans from ballet to opera, classical to contemporary, and pops to educational, making her one of the most versatile conductors of her generation.

Simoncic has a passion for the ballet which led her to conduct some of the world’s most prestigious ballet companies, including American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and Ballet West, where she served as Music Director from 2015-2018.  This season, she will also make guest conducting appearances with New York City Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Ballet Estable at Teatro Colón, and the Rochester Philharmonic with Rochester City Ballet.  Most recently, Simoncic conducted the Portland Symphony Orchestra, Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Bridge Musik Chamber Orchestra, and Camerata Nova at the Manhattan School of Music.  She has been a guest conductor with the Piccolo Opera Festival in Trieste, Italy and the Slovenian National Opera Ballet Theatre in Maribor where she conducted Pier Francesco Maestrini’s renowned production of The Barber of Seville.

In 2018, Simoncic joined the Louisville Ballet as Music Director and has been the conductor of the Flexible Orchestra, an ensemble dedicated to performing and commissioning new works since 2003.  Her enthusiasm for music education led her to conduct the Greenwich Symphony’s Young People’s Concerts from 2010-2020 and the William Patterson University Orchestra in 2020.

Simoncic holds a Bachelor of Music in trumpet performance from New England Conservatory, a Master of Music in orchestral conducting from Northwestern University, and a Professional Studies Certificate in conducting from Manhattan School of Music.  She has had the honor of studying conducting with Victor Yampolsky, Iloh Yang, Zdenec Macal, and George Hurst.