Simon Cobcroft was recently appointed to the position of Associate Principal Cello with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and since 2023 has been the Artistic Director of the Coriole Chamber Music Festival. For ten years, he served as Principal Cello with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, and has also held principal positions with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. He is a founding member of the Lyrebird Trio, winner of the Piano Trio and Audience prizes at the 2013 Asia Pacific Chamber Music Competition, and was previously in residence at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music and at the Centre for the Arts in Banff, Canada. Simon is a graduate of the Queensland Conservatorium (2000) and won the Australian Circle Prize in 2016. In earlier years he performed as soloist with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Camerata Queensland, Sydney’s Metropolitan Orchestra and Orchestra Victoria. Recent chamber‑music highlights include performances with Pinchas Zukerman and Amanda Forsyth, the Australian String Quartet, the Tinalley Quartet and the Seraphim Trio. In 2018 he appeared as guest principal cello at the Singapore International Piano Festival alongside Martha Argerich. A passionate educator, Simon has taught at the Elder Conservatorium of Music (University of Adelaide) and at the Queensland Conservatorium, and has tutored for the Australian Youth Orchestra and the National Music Camp. He studied with Matthew Farrell, Janis Laurs, Alexander Baillie, David Strange and Michael Goldschlager. He plays on a beautiful English cello made in 1840 by Thomas Kennedy.