Simon Rattle

Over a career including extended tenures with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, British conductor Simon Rattle has become recognized as one of the world's top conductors. Mostly focusing on symphonic music, he has also conducted major operatic productions. A native of Liverpool, Rattle was born January 19, 1955. He studied piano, violin, and percussion as a youngster, joining the Merseyside Youth Orchestra on the latter instruction and later playing with Britain's National Youth Orchestra. But he gravitated naturally toward cond...