Simone Seales: POWER UP Music Creator
Bio: Originally from Florida, Simone Seales is a Glasgow-based cellist and performance artist. They blend free improvisation, classical techniques, live looping, and poetry in their solo practice and when devising music for theatre. Through their collaborative and creative process, they prioritise connection, play and silliness, while exploring sound as a way of embodying and expressing emotions. Simone is passionate about exploring sound and how it can be embodied and reflect emotional states of being. Their creative influences come from Black feminist leaders such as Audre Lorde, Assata Shakur and bell hooks. Within Simone’s creative work, they center Blackness, sexuality, intersectional feminism and anti-racism. They believe Western Classical musicians are capable of making meaningful social change. In November 2025, Simone released their debut album Dearest, a work which blends poetry and music to reflect on the warmth, nostalgia, and tension of queer first love. In 2025-26, Simone was Musician in Residence for Paraorchestra. In this role, they explored the integration of visual and aural archival material, and activist philosophies into their creative work. They have received commissions from Edinburgh International Book Festival and Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival, and performed across Celtic Connections, Deep Time at the Fruitmarket, Edinburgh Art Festival, Edinburgh Blues and Jazz Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Lincoln Center and Southbank Centre. Collaborations have taken place with authors Cecilia Knapp and Gemma Cairney, multidisciplinary artists, Mele Broomes, Roxanne Tataei, and Thulani Rachia, and musicians Aidan O’Rourke, All Men Unto Me, and Young Fathers.
Concise Description of activity: I will do my first UK tour which will feature music from my debut poetry-music album, Dearest, alongside improvisations, contemporary classical pieces, and live visuals.