Sir Simon Rattle was born in Liverpool in 1955 and, at the age of 16, went to the Royal Academy of Music in London to study conducting. In 1974 he won first prize in the John Player International Conducting Competition and became Assistant Conductor of both the Bournemouth Symphony and Sinfonietta for three years. He subsequently held titles with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony and Rotterdam Philharmonic and from 1981 to 1983 was Artistic Director of the South Bank Summer Music Festival. Guest conducting included such orchestras as the London Sinfonietta, Philharmonia and The London Philharmonic. In 1980 he took up the post of Principal Conductor and Artistic Adviser of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and became its Music Director in September 1990. Following the opening of Symphony Hall in 1991, the CBSO is fortunate to have as its home one of the world's finest concert and recording halls. Simon Rattle has led the CBSO on many outstandingly-successful tours, including Europe and Scandinavia and the Orchestra's first visits to the Far East and North America and subsequent returns there. In October 1992 he became Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and is also Artistic Adviser of the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. In 1979 he made his North American debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and was their Principal Guest Conductor from 198l until 1994. During this period he also conducted Cleveland Orchestra and Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto and Boston Symphony Orchestras. He made his New York debut in 1985 with LA Philharmonic (Carnegie and Avery Fisher Halls) and next appeared there with CBSO in 1988. The same year included his US Opera debut Wozzeck with the Los Angeles Opera and Philharmonic. His Glyndebourne debut was in 1977 (The Cunning Little Vixen). Productions since then have been Ariadne auf Naxos, Der Rosenkavalier, Love for Three Oranges, Idomeneo, Porgy and Bess (recorded by EMI in 1988), the Ravel double-bill L'heure espagnole and L'enfant et les sortileges - all with the The London Philharmonic - and The Marriage of Figaro (1989), Cosi fan tutte (1991) and Don Giovanni (1994) with the Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment. He made his English National Opera debut in 1985 (Katya Kabanova) and his Royal Opera House debut in 1990 with The Cunning Little Vixen, which was subsequently recorded by EMI. An exclusive EMI artist for many years, he has made over sixty recordings, which between them have gained many prestigious international awards. Mahler 2 won three Gramophone Awards: Record of the Year, Best Orchestral Recording Award and Best Engineering and Production. Porgy and Bess won the 1989 Gramophone Opera award and the l990 International Record Critics' Award and in April 1990 he received France's most prestigious award, the Grand Prix in Honorem de l'Académie Charles Cros for his recordings of Porgy and Bess, and discs of Schoenberg/ Webern/ Berg and Debussy. Recent seasons have included Liszt Faust Symphony (Berlin Philharmonic), and (with CBSO) Szymanowski Symphony No 3, Stabat Mater and Litany for the Virgin Mary (which received Germany's Echo award for best symphonic recording of 1994) and Shostakovich Symphony No 4/ Britten Russian Funeral. Recent releases include Mozart Cosi fan tutte with the OAE and with the CBSO, Grainger In a Nutshell, Bruckner Symphony No.7, Szymanowski Violin Concertos Nos 1 & 2 (which won the 1997 Gramophone Award for the Best Concerto Recording, Mahler Das Lied von der Erde and the CBSO recording of the Elgar Violin Concerto with Nigel Kennedy. By special arrangement with EMI, he is currently recording the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos with Alfred Brendel and the Vienna Philharmonic for Philips Classics. His Channel 4 television series Leaving Home, the most ambitious series ever commissioned about 20th-century orchestra music, was shown in Autumn 1996 and received the 1997 BAFTA award for Best Arts Programme or Series. Recent seasons have included European tours and a fully-staged Jenufa for the Châtelet in Paris with the CBSO; UK and European projects with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, including recording Cosi fan tutte for EMI; and guest conducting with Boston Symphony and Los Angeles Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic and Vienna Philharmonic. His Vienna Philharmonic concerts at the 1996 Salzburg Festival and his European tour with them in April 1997 were acclaimed by critics and audience alike. He conducted his first Parsifal for Netherlands Opera in early 1997 and led the CBSO's first South American tour in August/September 1997. During 1997/98, his last season as CBSO's Music Director, he has toured with them in North America, Europe and Japan and will conduct a complete Beethoven Symphony cycle at the 1998 Salzburg Festival. His 10-year festival with CBSO Towards The Millennium will continue until 2000, as will recordings for EMI and a range of special projects. Plans also include regular appearances with Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; engagements with Birmingham Contemporary Music Group; Boston Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestras; further operas in the UK and Europe and a series of Salzburg Festival projects. In March 1993 he received the Montblanc de la Culture award for private vision for his devotion to cultural endeavour. He was awarded this for his work with the CBSO and his involvement in the building of the highly-acclaimed Birmingham Symphony Hall. He has been awarded Honorary Doctorates of Music by the Universities of Birmingham, Leeds and Liverpool and was chosen Artist of the Year at the prestigious 1993 Gramophone Awards. At the 1995 Gramophone Awards ceremony, his recordings gained three awards: Best Orchestral Recording (Schoenberg Chamber Symphony No.1 with Birmingham Contemporary Music Group / Schoenberg Variations and Erwartung with CBSO) and Best Choral and Best Engineering (Szymanowski Stabat Mater with the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus and CBSO). In November 1998, his recording of the Brahms Piano Concerto Op.15 (Leif Ove Andsnes) was awarded the 'Choc de l'Année 1998'. In the 1987 New Years Honours Simon Rattle was awarded the C.B.E. for his services to Music and in June 1994, he was made a Knight Bachelor in the Birthday Honours List. He was also honoured as Officier des Arts et Lettres by the French Minister of Culture in November 1995 and awarded the Toepfer Foundation of Hamburg's 1996 Shakespeare Prize for his outstanding contribution to the arts within the framework of Europe's cultural heritage. In September 1997 he was awarded the first ever BBC Music Magazine 'Outstanding Achievement Award and in November 1997 he was awarded the RSA Albert Medal in recognition of his outstanding contribution to music and his involvement in educational and community activities. In January 1999 he received the Outstanding Achievement award at the 1999 South Bank Show Awards in honour of his 18 years' work with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.