Sir Simon Denis Rattle OM CBE (born 19 January 1955) is a British conductor. He rose to international prominence during the 1980s and 1990s, while Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980–98). Rattle was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic from 2002 to 2018. It was announced in March 2015 that Rattle would become Music Director of the London Symphony Orchestra from September 2017. As a passionate supporter of music education, Rattle is also the patron of Birmingham Schools' Symphony Orchestra, arranged during his tenure with CBSO in mid 1990s. The Youth Orchestra is now under the auspices of charitable business Services for Education. Rattle received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music in 2001 at the Classic Brit Awards. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.