Pianist And Composer Edward Simon Named A 2023 Lucas Artist Fellow 

Acclaimed Venezuelan pianist Edward Simon has been named a 2023 Lucas Artist Fellow. This year marked the first open call held by the Montalvo Arts Center Sally and Don Lucas Artists Program (LAP) in over ten years.

65 out of 370 applicants – 30 in visual arts, 19 in literary arts, and 16 in music/composition and performing arts – were chosen to receive awards. For more information visit Montalvo Announces New Lucas Artist Fellows, 2023 • Montalvo Arts Center.

“It is a huge privilege and honor to be amongst this group of distinguished artists,” says Simon. “I am grateful for the recognition of my work. The fellowship is a significant milestone in my music career, and I am excited to see where this journey will take me.”

According to the Montalvo Arts Center website, “Lucas Fellows are identified through a competitive international nomination process that ensures support for highly qualified, and often under recognized, artists who have the potential to become major voices in the next generation of creative thinkers.”

Each fellow is offered a three-month residency to be used at their discretion over a three-year period between October 2023 and 2026. The residency site is located in Montalvo's 175-acre public park in Silicon Valley. Self-direction and flexibility are at the heart of the LAP program, offering artists uninterrupted time to develop new work.

The award caps a packed year for Simon, whose 2023 release Femininas: Songs of Latin American Women celebrates the legacy of Latin American women songwriters like Violeta Parra, Marta Valdes, Chabuca Granda, Elizabeth Morris and Joyce. Says Simon, “These incredible songwriters have created beautiful songs that should be internationally known.” Featuring the Edward Simon Trio with bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Adam Cruz, the recording also highlights Grammy-nominated Mexican vocalist Magos Herrera and percussionist Luis Quintero.

Edward Simon, a native of Venezuela, has made a name for himself over decades in America as a jazz improviser, composer-arranger and bandleader, exploring the commonalities between jazz and the folkloric sounds of Latin America. Based in the San Francisco Bay area and a member of the all-star SFJAZZ Collective, his awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, a MacDowell Fellowship, grants from Chamber Music America's New Jazz Works Initiative, and third place in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. A Yamaha artist, Simon has recorded 17 albums as a leader or co-leader, including 2023's Femininas: Songs of Latin American Women. Simon's recordings have earned high acclaim including an NAACP Image Award for the 2016 Latin American Songbook. The New York Times has praised Simon's “light, warm touch” as a pianist, while Jazz Journal singled out his “deep emotional statements” as a composer and improviser. Over the course of his career, Simon has played with Bobby Watson's Horizon and the Terence Blanchard Group, and contributed his talents to albums by artists including Mark Turner, Greg Osby, Kevin Eubanks and Herbie Mann. He's worked as head of his all-star trio with bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade, as co-founder of Afinidad with David Binney, and as a member of the collaborative trio Steel House. Simon is on the faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the California Jazz Conservatory.