Victor Simonson is a multi-talented musician with gifts spanning in areas of conducting, directing, composing, arranging, orchestration, piano and vocals in genre including, Classical, Broadway, Jazz, Gospel, Blues, Sacred, R&B and Folk. He is also a gifted Minister of Music, keyboardist and organist.
A piano virtuoso, Simonson has participated on the creative music team for the stage productions of “Smokey Joe’s Café”, “Civil War Christmas”, “The Wiz”, and has Associate Conductor for national tours with “Memphis the Musical”, and “The Color Purple” along with being nominated for the Helen Hayes Award for his Music Direction for “Three Mo’ Divas”.
Victor has a featured gospel composition, Another Chance, on the Grammy Nominated CD by Total Praise, served as Music Director for Three Mo’ Tenors, Interim Music Director for the Boys Choir of Harlem, , pianist for the NAACP 2003 Image Awards, orchestrated music for Donnie McClurkin’s The McClurkin Project and collaborated with musicians including Denyse Graves, N’Kengé, Adina Aaron, Angela M. Brown, Kishna Davis, Alfreda Burke, Roderick Dixon among others.
As Minister of Music, Victor served at churches throughout the eastern seaboard and as the Director of Organ Music at Metropolitan Baptist Church with Richard Smallwood and Nolan Williams, Pianist for the acclaimed Howard University Choir, United Voices of Praise (McDonald’s Gospel Fest winners) and worked with Grammy award winner John McDaniel (Rosie O’Donald) and G.E. Smith at the Kennedy Center during the Mark Twain Awards for the Whoppi Goldberg tribute. Among his other accomplishments, Victor’s Gospel song, Give God All the Praise, was performed internationally and nationally by the Boys Choir of Harlem.
Seen on ABC Nightline, Good Morning America, PBS, Rosie O’Donnell, and the WORD Network; on stages with Harry Belafonte, Robin Williams, Chris Tucker, Celia Cruz, Heather Headley and Yolanda Adams Victor performed with the Queens Symphony Orchestra Gospel Choir and accompanied gospel great, Shirley Caesar for the Ben Vereen Gala in NYC.
Victor attended Howard University where he studied piano performance and Eastman School of Music for vocal performance and is currently studying at Wesley Theological Seminary for his Masters of Divinity. Although his gifts are from above, his music training has been with John Maloy and Michael Crouse for voice, Dr. Raymond Jackson and Rebecca Pennys for piano and Dr. Stanley Ralph (father of actress Sheryl Lee Ralph) for organ.
Victor debuted “Victory: Introducing Victor Simonson in 2008, the same year he married his wife, Rev. Ciara Simonson. He currently resides in a Washington D.C. suburb sharing the honor of parenting and enjoying the fullness of life with his daughter, Victoria Grace.