Photo Credit: Todd Rosenberg
Simón Gómez Gallego. Percussionist. Timpanist. Educator.
October, 2024
Praised by the Chicago Tribune as "consistently impressive," Simón Gómez Gallego is an active percussionist, timpanist, and teacher based in Chicago, IL. He holds positions as Principal Timpanist of the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, South Bend Symphony Orchestra, and Rockford Symphony Orchestra, and is a percussionist with the Chicago Philharmonic Society. As a teacher, he is the Percussion Ensemble Coach for the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras, and is on the faculty of the Chicago Scholarship Program of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and The People’s Music School. He maintains a private studio on the north side of Chicago.
Simón performs frequently as Guest Principal Timpanist and Percussionist with orchestras such as the Chicago and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestras and the Grant Park Orchestra. He has also performed with the Atlanta, Detroit, Indianapolis, and Charlotte Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. Highlights of the 2024-2025 season include appearances as Guest Principal Timpanist with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and with the Chicago Philharmonic on their Carnegie Hall debut. As a percussionist, he will be reappearing in subscription concerts with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
Before establishing his base in Chicago, Simón held positions as Assistant Principal Percussionist of the Florida Grand Opera, Principal Percussionist of the Battle Creek Symphony (MI) and Rockford Symphony, and Principal Timpanist of the West Michigan Symphony. Since moving to Chicago, he has also performed with orchestras in the Chicagoland area such as the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, Lake Forest Symphony, Oistrakh Symphony of Chicago, and Madison Symphony.
In addition to performing with orchestras, Simón enjoys performing chamber music, new music, and solo works. In the 2023-2024 season, he appeared with the Fulcrum Point New Music Project. As a percussion soloist, he was featured with the Rockford Symphony Orchestra performing James Macmillan’s percussion concerto, *Veni Veni Emmanuel*, and co-commissioned a piece for horn and vibraphone by Chicago composer Roger Zare.
Born in Medellin, Colombia, Simón began his musical studies at the Instituto Musical Diego Echavarria. He earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Miami and a Post-Master’s Certificate in Percussion Performance from DePaul University. He was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and a Civic Fellow from 2014 to 2016. Additionally, he attended the Aspen Music Festival and School for five summers, receiving the Charlie Owen Fellowship in 2011 and the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen Timpani Fellowship in 2012.
Simón is passionate about teaching and sharing his knowledge of audition preparation. He has presented workshops and talks on audition preparation at institutions such as DePaul University, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Orquesta Juvenil Carlos Chaves (Mexico), and Universidad de Antioquia (Colombia). His students have been accepted into top conservatories and universities. Outside of music, Simón enjoys running along Chicago's Lakefront and playing tennis.
His main teachers and coaches include David Herbert, Matthew Strauss, Marc Damoulakis, Eric Millstein, Vadim Karpinos, Svet Stoyanov, Ney Rosauro, Ted Atkatz, and Alexander Ziborov. Simón is endorsed by Sabian Cymbals.