Simon Bell has been Assistant Director of Music at Winchester Cathedral since September 2008, where his post involves accompanying the choir in services, broadcasts, recordings and tours, and directing the choirs on a regular basis. A graduate of Leeds University and the Royal College of Music, he previously held posts at Southwell Minster, Westminster Abbey and St Albans Cathedral.

During his time at Southwell, Simon founded the Minster Girls’ Choir, and also directed the Cathedral’s voluntary choir, the Minster Chorale. Simon also worked extensively with amateur choral ensembles in the area; he was Musical Director of Grantham Choral Society and the Lincoln Chorale and also accompanist to Nottingham Harmonic Society. He is currently accompanist to the Waynflete Singers in Winchester, and teaches the organ at Southampton University and Winchester College.

Simon was a prizewinner at the coveted St Albans International Organ Festival in 2001 and 2005, and also won the Limpus Prize in the FRCO examinations in 1997. He is a former holder of the W T Best Memorial Organ Scholarship, awarded by the Worshipful Company of Musicians, and studied the organ with Gordon Stewart, Margaret Phillips and Ben van Oosten. He maintains a busy schedule of solo organ recitals, performing at many English Cathedrals, as well as at Hull City Hall and Église Saint-Sulpice, Paris.