Simon Phillippo's reputation as a conductor has been growing steadily in recent years. He is highly regarded for the energy and drama of his performances, for his structural instincts, and for the sensitivity of his vocal accompaniment.

For Welsh National Opera he has conducted RIGOLETTO, DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE, THE BARBER OF SEVILLE, CHORUS!, MADAMA BUTTERFLY, LA BOHÈME, L'ELISIR D'AMORE, TOSCA, ARIADNE AUF NAXOS and IL TROVATORE. He has conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in performances of MADAMA BUTTERFLY and TOSCA at the Royal Albert Hall, London. As Music Director of Opera Brava from 1999 to 2001 he toured nationally with productions of DON GIOVANNI, CARMEN, THE BARBER OF SEVILLE, TOSCA and LA CENERENTOLA. He also led a production of LA TRAVIATA on an extensive tour of the Middle and Far East, with Opera and Concert Productions Worldwide; and he has worked with Opera Europa, Opera Holland Park, and the European Chamber Opera. At Welsh National Opera Simon has worked closely with conductors such as the late Sir Charles Mackerras, Carlo Rizzi, and Lothar Koenigs; and he has been Chorus Master for many WNO productions, including the first staging in the UK of Handel's JEPHTHA, and the world première of THE SACRIFICE by James MacMillan.

In the concert hall he has led the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera, the Orchestra of Opera North, Brandon Hill Chamber Orchestra, the Mozart Festival Orchestra, and the Ernest Read Symphony Orchestra. He has been Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Helios Orchestra of London, which he founded as a student, giving many performances at St. John's, Smith Square in London.

In 2001 Simon was nominated for the international Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative in Geneva; and in 2009 he was a prize-winning finalist in the Leeds Conductors Competition, giving a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 that was described in the Yorkshire Post as "one of those big red-blooded performances that the orchestra can always produce when they are enjoying themselves." His symphonic repertoire is varied and wide-ranging, from Beethoven, Haydn, Brahms and Mahler, to Shostakovich, Tippett, Robin Holloway and Robert Simpson. In the opera house his conducting of Puccini has been much admired, as have his performances of Strauss, Verdi, Rossini and Donizetti.

Simon studied at the Royal Academy of Music, and with Robin Holloway and W. Dean Sutcliffe at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he received his PhD in 2000. He spent a year at the National Opera Studio in London before his appointment at Welsh National Opera in 2001. His principal conducting studies were undertaken with Matthew Taylor and the renowned teacher George Hurst.