Hillary Simms is a virtuosic Canadian trombone player with the esteemed American Brass Quintet and is on faculty at the Julliard School.

Hillary’s warmth and love of music comes through in this candid interview, from her childhood in Newfoundland to playing on the world’s biggest stages, and also the unusual situation she found herself in when  her engagement to her husband became a viral sensation in China. 

As the first woman to join the Amercian Brass Quintet since 1960,  Hillary spoke to me about gender disparity in the brass world and some of her strong female role models.  

 Hillary shares wonderful insights for all of us, whether you pursue music as a career or follow a different path,  of the need to have self-compassion and have an awareness of the big picture of your life. 

Hillary has performed as a soloist a couple of times with my orchestra, Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, and you’ll hear us talk about the arc of her career so far as a chamber musician, soloist, educator and busy freelancer. We decided to delay the release of this episode slightly in order to include a wonderful recent recording of the Amercian Brass Quintet, a movement from David Biedenbender’s wonderful work Sacred Geometry. This is the first recording of the group with Hillary performing,  and you’ll find more information and links below. 

You'll find the video and transcript here: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/hillary-simms

Hillary Simms website: https://www.hillarysimmstrombone.com/

American Brass Quintet: https://www.americanbrassquintet.org/

ABQ Sacred Geometry Il. Gaudi by David Biedenbender https://youtu.be/YOBA2gjpnKo?si=PNJHPuQ3ZOPS_pAV

Song for Japan Trombone Quintet https://youtu.be/2lVH_vesCUA?si=iD2fZsxKWi0TNDg8

Songs My Mother Taught Me by Charles Ives https://youtu.be/I7ZdF-gH9mg?si=YwJ1T4t2K2sSdy6Y

Hillary Simms with NACO https://nac-cna.ca/en/event/27460

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Timestamps:

(00:00) intro

(04:02) solo opportunites with NACO pandemic, Tomasi, David, Raum

(08:26) American Brass Quintet, Julliard teaching, auditioning for ABQ

(14:10) commissioning new compositions

(20:41) second movement,Gaudi, from Sacred Geometry by David Biedenbender

(25:29) recital in Toronto, Charles Ives songs

(27:51) Songs My Mother Taught Me by Charles Ives

(27:49) benefits of singing

(31:44) Hillary’s story of becoming a  trombone player

(37:55) Newfoundland

(39:49) different ways to support this independent podcast!

(40:43) Hillary’s career path and love of chamber music, Dr. Karen Bulmer, Douglas Burden

(47:39) Gord Wolfe trombone mentor, getting through burnout

(50:47) husband Ricky Nan, the strangeness of being part of a viral sensation

(56:36) need for mentorship

(01:00:10) recording the Song for Japan video, help from Zach Haas

(01:04:42)  Song for Japan by Steven Verhelst 

(01:11:00) self-care and routine,