Simon Streatfeild

British-Canadian violist, conductor, and music educator. Born 5 October 1929 in Windsor, Berkshire, England, UK - Died 7 December 2019.
He studied viola with Frederick Riddle at the Royal College of Music, London, graduating in 1950. He had been performing with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Orchestra Of The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and acted as a Principal Viola in the Sadler's Wells Orchestra (1953-1955) and the London Symphony Orchestra (1956-1965). He was also a founding member of The Academy Of St. Martin-in-the-Fields (1958-1965) and spent ten years in Oslo, teaching orchestral conducting and leading the orchestra at Norges Musikkhøgskole.
After moving to Canada in 1965, he started his decade-long tenure at the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, where he acted as a Principal Viola (1965-1969), Assistant Conductor (1967-1971), Music Director (1971-1972), and Associate Conductor (1972-1977). He was a founding member of the Baroque Strings of Vancouver (1966-1968). He also conducted the Vancouver Bach Choir from 1969 to 1981, and was founder of the Purcell String Quartet (1968-1969), which disbanded in 1991. As a conductor & director of the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra (1982-2000), he led the world premiere of Between the Wings of the Earth by Michael Matthews in 1983. Making his way east, he began dividing his time between leading the Regina Symphony Orchestra (1981-1984), and the (1983-1991) as conductor and director. In his later years, he served as Principal Guest Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Orchestra London Canada, the Symphony Nova Scotia, and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony (2004-2007).
In 1987, he received a Canadian Music Council Medal for outstanding service to music in Canada.