Lament for Simon Rattle’s violin teacher
mainThe Royal Scottish National Orchestra has informed us of the death of Bob Simans, its former violinist and occasional leader in the 1970s.
In his previous post with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Bob gave violin lessons to a seven year old called Simon Rattle. Later, as a pianist, he was accompanist to Nicola Benedetti.
The funeral is in Glasgow on Thursday.
Bob was our accompanist since the inception of the Academy of Sacred Music eight years ago. A more beautiful, warm and truly decent human being you would be hard pushed to meet. He was, of course, a brilliant musician who taught us so much but it was his humanity that stood out. We love him dearly and will miss him terribly.