Alex Simu Quintet

The same year he won first prize of the Dutch Jazz Competition at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, and in 2009 was awarded with the EBU jazz scholarship, and became a member of the European Jazz Orchestra for the project Swinging Europe lead by Peter Herbolzheimer.

After completing his studies, Alex Simu co-founded the Dutch-based quartet Arifa. Their debut album Beyond Babylon was released in 2010, followed by Anatolian Alchemy in 2012. Both albums were awarded the Best World Music Release of the year in the Netherlands, and distinguished with 5 stars by various publications.

In 2019, Alex Simu released Echoes of Bucharest, his debut album as a band leader together with his quintet. The release at Bimhuis in Amsterdam was highly received by the national press.

Also a film music composer, Alex Simu has worked since 2010 on a great number of award-winning international film productions. In 2016, he was awarded with the Golden Calf by the Dutch Film Academy for the Best Music of Beyond Sleep.

Since 2015, Simu is the main subject teacher at the Codarts University for the Arts in Rotterdam within the jazz and world music departments. He is active in the field of organology and clarinet synthesis, and has innovated the tenor clarinet, as well as brought into contemporary use the alto clarinet, clarinet d’amour, and the bass clarinet d’amour.

Active on the jazz and world music scene since 1999, Alex Simu performed and toured professionally in 46 countries over 5 continents, and shared the stage with important figures such as Alvin Queen, Brian Lynch, Benny Golson, Bennie Wallace, Peter Herbolzheimer, Mari Boine, Jorge Reyes, Naseer Shamma, Ghalia Benali, Aynur Dogan, Arto Tuncboyaciyan, and many others.