Simon De Paepe (°1996) is a classical pianist and conductor. In his student days, he was founder and conductor of the symphony orchestra Con Spirito, composed of students and alumni from various conservatories. Together they performed Beethoven's Eroica Symphony and the complete Peer Gynt by Grieg. During the festival ‘Stadsklanken XIX’, they performed the symphonic poem for piano and orchestra by Peter Benoit together with soloist Jozef De Beenhouwer.
Simon is also conductor of the West Brabant Symphony Orchestra in the Netherlands. As an assistant conductor he collaborated on the chamber opera Macho by Robert Groslot, and in 2021 he assisted Marit Strindlund in the production Usher by OperaBallet Vlaanderen. As a pianist he forms a song duo with the French-German soprano Caroline Jestaedt. Since December 2023, he has been the artistic director of the concert society Bevleugeld in Kapellen.
Simon works as a researcher at the Antwerp Conservatory at research group Labo XIX&XX. He gained previous experience in the Halfbroeders project (2021-2022). He contributed to the editions of August De Boeck, Élégie, The Flemish music collection, musikmph. (First edition); and August De Boeck, Mélodies sur des poèmes Français, The Flemish music collection, musikmph (First edition of a number of songs).