Simon Updegraff, 16, is a Scholarship Fellow at the Music Institute of Chicago’s Academy, a training center for advanced pre-college musicians. He studies cello with Avi Friedlander. He began Suzuki cello studies at age four.
Simon is a first-place winner in the Primary, Junior, and Intermediate cello division competitions of the Society of American Musicians and a Merit Scholarship winner at the Music Institute of Chicago. He received honorable mention in the 2022 Walgreens National Concerto Competition and was selected for the 2023 Illinois Music Education Association all-state honors orchestra. He has performed in the Young Steinway Concert series at the Skokie Public Library and played twice as assistant principal in the Suzuki Youth Orchestra of the Americas at the Suzuki Association of the Americas Biennial Conference, where he was also selected for a master class and to perform with a select cello choir. He is a member of the New Trier Symphony Orchestra and performed with them at Lincoln Center in New York City. Simon has taken master classes with Richard Aaron, Sarah Kim, Allen Rafferty, Melissa Kraut, Benjamin Lash, and Amy Barston.
Simon is a rising junior at New Trier High School where he is the team captain of the Junior Varsity Scholastic Bowl Team and founded the school’s Classical Music Club. He holds a black belt in Taekwondo and ranks in the top 10 players world-wide in a multi-player online game.
You can find Simon’s 2023 18th Century Music Competition cello performance here.