Biography

Originally from Florida, Simone Seales is a Glasgow-based cellist and performance artist. They focus on free improvisation, both tonal and atonal, poetry, and devising music for theatre. Through their collaborative and creative process, they prioritize play, silliness, and connection.

Simone is passionate about exploring sound, how sound can reflect emotional states of being and how emotions are embodied. Their creative influences come from Black feminist leaders such as Audre Lorde, Assata Shakur and bell hooks. Within Simone's creative work, they centre Blackness, sexuality, intersectional feminism and anti-racism. They believe Western Classical musicians are capable of making meaningful social change.

Recently, they performed as part of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s UN:TITLED concert experience in Summerhall in Edinburgh and Saint Luke’s Glasgow. They have performed in the Edinburgh International Children’s festival and dance festivals across Scotland with Taylor Han in their show With Catastrophic Consequences. Simone has also performed in the Lilian Baylis Studio at Sadler’s Wells as part of Second Movement’s Rough for Opera #18, where Simone shared Ella Jarman-Pinto and Jennifer Farmer’s new opera belly/back. They regularly collaborate with composers Rylan Gleave and Sonia Killmann.

In the summer of 2023, they announced their debut album I believe in living - a responsive improvisation to the poem Affirmation by Assata Shakur. They also performed across the Edinburgh Festivals in two events at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, and in the production Member by Fairly Lucid Productions at Gilded Balloon as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Passionate about reaching new audiences and increasing access to arts education, Simone is a Mentor and Ambassador Programme Assistant for the Benedetti Foundation. They focus on trauma-informed teaching practices, which is also embedded within their role as a part-time lecturer at theRoyal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Simone is a recipient of Chamber Music Scotland’s EDI Development Fund, Sphinx MPower Artist Grant 2022 and former Young Artist in Residence for Chamber Music Scotland.