Name: An Afternoon With Simeon Walker
Start: 2025-10-26T15:00:00+00:00
Location: Barnsley Civic

Versatile and prolific Leeds-based pianist & composer Simeon Walker has quickly emerged as a leading light in the burgeoning modern classical scene. Alongside a busy performance and touring schedule across the UK and Europe, in recent years he has supported a variety of high-profile artists including Neil Cowley, Submotion Orchestra, Erland Cooper and LYR (Simon Armitage’s musical project) and performed notable live sets at Latitude, Timber Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe and SXSW London.
His music is regularly broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and ClassicFM, and has received listening figures in excess of 50 million streams across platforms, whilst his piece ‘Reverie’ notably features on the first official Piano Day compilation (2022) by the LEITER label, alongside modern classical luminaries Nils Frahm, Olafur Arnalds and Chilly Gonzales.
An in-demand collaborator, Simeon has worked with numerous musicians, composers and performers across a wide range of genres and musical styles. With a keen interest in interdisciplinary work, he has received commissions to collaborate on projects involving fellow creatives such as artist Mary Griffiths, Portuguese choreographer Sara Afonso, writer Emma White, filmmakers Will Killen and Ben Cohen, plus organisations including BBC Radio 4 and University of Leeds. As a session musician, he regularly records for composers working in the film and television industries, and recently completed a range of compositional work for the popular estate agent, publisher and journal The Modern House.
Whilst studying for a Masters in Composition, he studied under the tutelage of the recently-appointed Master of the King’s Music Errollyn Wallen. With a background in classical music alongside a keen interest in jazz, folk and ambient music, Simeon’s diverse and varied creative output coupled with his informal, invitational and warm-hearted approach to live performance reflects the extremes of human experience and emotion, aiming to bring people together around the joy of shared musical experiences.
Encompassing moments of quiet, gentle solitude through to boisterous, flowing exuberance - this is music composed and performed from the heart; simultaneously capturing a sense of open, spacious landscapes and grandeur, paired with sincerity, intimacy and warmth. Listeners are invited to gather around the piano; to find beauty and meaning as much in the spaces between the notes as the notes themselves, as tender, expressive and heartfelt musical stories are woven engagingly together, delivered with a uniquely delicate touch and a self-deprecatory wry smile.
- - -
“A singular and enchanting hour” - The Fringe Review
“Sublime, assured and immersive compositions” - SY Gigs
“Remarkable stage presence and command of the instrument “ - Modellbahn Music
“For those who aren’t generally fans of classical music, this new movement offers a modern take that reconnects us with the beauty of the piano and how composers like Simeon Walker can use it in different ways to convey what it is that makes us human” - Louder Than War