Carlos Simon, the Boston Symphony Orchestra's first-ever composer chair, is about to premiere his sixth new piece for the orchestra in less than three years on the job. The Double Concerto Suite for Violin and Cello, featuring star violinist Hilary Hahn and cellist Seth Parker Woods, debuts Thursday at Symphony Hall as part of a program that also includes Tchaikovsky's Polonaise from Eugene Onegin and Act 2 of The Nutcracker.
A Three-Year Appointment, Five Pieces Ahead of Schedule
Simon was appointed to a three-year composer chair position in 2024 and was expected to write six new pieces for the BSO over that span, according to The Boston Globe. He had already premiered five works for the orchestra heading into this week's concert, in addition to Four Black American Dances, which the BSO commissioned and premiered in 2023. That piece has since taken on a life beyond Boston — Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra recorded it live at Heinz Hall in February 2025, and the recording was later released on Reference Recordings.
Simon's official title is the Deborah and Philip Edmundson Composer Chair, a position the Boston Symphony Orchestra designed to embed new works and educational initiatives into its core programming. The composer told the Globe that his productivity shows how fruitful the relationship with the BSO has been.
Hahn and Woods Brought Him the Idea
Per the Globe's reporting, the idea originated with Hahn and Woods themselves, who approached their mutual friend Simon and asked him to write something they could perform together. The five-movement Double Concerto Suite for Violin and Cello draws on baroque dance suite forms, including the gavotte, gigue, passacaglia, and blues.
The work was co-commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and L'Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, giving it a performance life well beyond Symphony Hall from the outset. Boston audiences can catch Hahn and Woods performing the suite October 15 through 17.
A Career Built on Gospel Roots and Social Justice
Simon grew up in Atlanta, where he played piano at his father's church; gospel and R&B influences run through his music. Before turning to composition full time, he served as music director and keyboardist for Jennifer Holliday and toured internationally with Angie Stone, according to Music by Black Composers. He earned a doctorate at the University of Michigan and now serves as an associate professor of music at Georgetown University, where he received the Magis Prize in September 2024, per Georgetown University.
Simon’s Requiem for the Enslaved commemorates Georgetown's 1838 sale of 272 enslaved men, women, and children. The piece combines Catholic liturgical melodies and African American spirituals; Hub New Music performed on its released recording, which later received a Grammy nomination. Simon's chamber works have continued to surface at the Gardner Museum since then — Hoodline previously reported on the Ivalas Quartet performing his string piece An Elegy: A Cry From the Grave at Calderwood Hall, a work dedicated to Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown.
National Platforms Alongside the Boston Residency
Simon’s Boston role runs concurrently with a national leadership position: he has served as composer-in-residence at the Kennedy Center in Washington, and the Kennedy Center extended his contract through the 2026-2027 season. The Minnesota Orchestra premiered Simon's large-scale tribute to George Floyd and the racial justice movement.
His civic footprint in Massachusetts has grown just as fast. On July 4, the Boston Pops premiered Simon's Song of Massachusetts, featuring Massachusetts Poet Laureate Regie Gibson and the Boston Children's Chorus, according to the Bay State Banner. In 2021, Simon was awarded the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, becoming only the second composer to receive the Sphinx Organization's highest honor for Black and Latinx classical musicians; the LA Phil has described him as a composer on the rise.
