Todd Simmons piano classes private piano lessons
Todd Simmons has been a piano instructor for over 20 years and teaches a select group of students out of his Lawrenceville, NJ home studio. An avid performer, accompanist, choral director, and church musician, Mr. Simmons is frequently heard performing and collaborating musically on piano, harpsichord, and organ across the region.
Over the past two decades as a piano instructor, Mr. Simmons's piano students have won top honors in numerous local, state, and regional competitions including the NJMTA Fall Young Musicians Competition, NJMTA Spring Festival and Recitals, Music-Fest Rising Talents Festival, Golden Key Music Festival, Crescendo International Competition, American Protege International Piano and Strings Competition, Elite International Music Competition, IMPACT Young Artists Competition, the Greater Princeton Steinway Society Piano Competition, and the South Jersey Steinway Society Piano Competition. His students have regularly been featured performing in such prestigious venues as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall (NYC), Merkin Hall (NYC), The Kosciuszko Foundation Recital Hall (NYC), The Kimmel Center (Philadelphia), the Nicholas Music Center at Rutgers University, and many others.
In addition to teaching piano, Mr. Simmons is a busy accompanist, serving as the pianist for the Hopewell Valley Central High School. He has been an accompanist for the Princeton Girlchoir and Boychoir in Princeton NJ, the American Boychoir (NJ), and the Fairfield County Children's Choir (CT). From 1996-2019, Mr. Simmons was an integral part of the faculty in Westminster Choir College's High School Piano Camp, serving as a masterclass teacher and Co-Director.
From 2000-2012, Mr. Simmons served as the Assistant Director and piano instructor at the Westport School of Music in Westport, CT. Other notable positions he has held are: Music Director at the Plainsboro Presbyterian Church (NJ), Music Director at St. Paul's Episcopal Church (Wallingford, CT), Choir Director at Ridge High School (NJ), Associate Choir Director at Princeton High School (NJ), and Choir Director at Fairfield High School (CT). From 2001-2005, Mr. Simmons established and directed the Women’s Choir of Fordham University, Bronx, NYC.
Mr. Simmons holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the Eastman School of Music (1996) and a Master's degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Southern Mississippi (2000). He also earned a Master’s degree in Psychology from Meridian University in Petaluma, CA (2013). Mr. Simmons has studied piano with Ingrid Clarfield and Vincent Lenti, and harpsichord with Dana Ragsdale. He has studied choral and instrumental conducting with Helmut Rilling, Timothy Koch, William Weinert, and David Effron.