Simon Cosgrove

Simon Cosgrove is a saxophonist and pianist living in Japan. He is in demand on the Tokyo jazz circuit and is currently playing at the internationally renowned New York Bar and Grill at the Park Hyatt hotel, as featured in the 2003 blockbuster "Lost in Translation". Simon leads his own quintet and has recorded with Japanese and European artists. In addition to his work as a performing musician, Simon has also appeared in the Japanese comedy movie "Tsuri baka nisshi 16" and has been featured in a TV commercial for Niigata prefecture from March 2008. In 2005 Simon completed a full-scale translation project for the Nohgaku no Sato museum of Noh theatre on Sado Island and he continues to work as a freelance translator and interpreter. Simon's musical training began at an early age, and by the age of 14 he was sitting in the lead alto chair of the Doncaster Jazz Orchestra. Simon won the Walter Todds Bursary for outstanding musicianship in the BBC Young Musician of the Year 2000 competition after a performance that displayed his prowess in jazz, classical and avant-garde genres. Simon studied music at Cambridge University and won a number of scholarships before graduating in 2003. It was at Cambridge that Simon discovered Japanese traditional music, and this was to be a turning point in his life. Determined to study the shakuhachi (bamboo flute) and collaborate with Japanese musicians, he applied for the prestigious Daiwa scholarship and came to Tokyo in September 2003. Simon toured Japan and recorded with his quintet in June 2009.