After years of a busy freelancing career that saw violist Alexandra Simpson tour with Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós, join recording sessions for A24 films, play drop-of-the-hat shows with avant-garde NYC saxophonists, and join one of the biggest pop stars in the world’s Tiny Desk Concerts, Simpson has picked up a job a little closer to home. 

She’s been named Music Director of the San Domenico School’s Virtuoso program in San Anselmo, swapping her bow for a baton. It’s a homecoming of sorts: Simpson attended the school herself years ago, and now finds herself in charge of the intensive program for talented high-schoolers already motivated to pursue music after graduation.

“Since 2022, I’ve done viola sectionals and coached chamber groups there,” Simpson (who studied with Dimitri Murrath at SFCM) says. “And I've never considered teaching to be a huge part of what I do, but their last director stepped down and I volunteered to pick up the slack and just fell in love with conducting.”  

Sabrina Carpenter performs with Allie Simpson (right).

Stepping into a conducting role might seem scary, but  Simpson wasn't cowed by stepping into a world that features much more in the way of paperwork and admin, either. “I enjoy the administrative side of it too, like figuring out how to get more kids in the program and get more performances going,” she adds. “All of it just felt like something clicked into place. And as much as I love performing—that's always going to be my main outlet—there’s something about being a conductor that unlocked a new side of my creativity.”

Simpson remains plenty busy, though, serving as Principal Violist at the Fresno Philharmonic and The Orchestra San Antonio and holds tenured positions as Assistant Principal with the California Symphony and in the section of the Berkeley Symphony.

But she says the job felt like a natural fit after years of bouncing up and down Northern California’s coast as part of the so-called “Freeway Philharmonic.”

“It solved all the problems that I had as a professional violist,” Simpson says. “Violists are always the glue: You fill out the string section; and even in chamber music, I find that a lot of the people who are chamber music violists, they’re usually the ones holding things together for the other members. And obviously I love playing solo stuff, but there really isn’t enough in the repertoire to make a career out of that. But conductors get to shape the entire interpretation of a piece, and I just really love it.”

Allie Simpson plays with Sigur Rós at the Beacon Theatre. (Credit: Sachyn Mital)

The new job is a refreshing change of pace for what had started to feel like a grind to Simpson. “I’m not sure an orchestral career was really ever it for me,” she says. “I was kind of resistant to even start doing the orchestra audition treadmill, because once you’re on it, it’s hard to get off: You just need to keep your eyes on the next job. I hit a point where I felt a bit rundown."

Alexandra Simpson with music students from the San Domenico School.

Simpson took conducting classes in her undergrad, looking at it as a way of understanding orchestra rep better, but was intimidated by the different barriers to entry young conductors face. “So in some ways, I'm getting the opportunity to learn on the job,” she says. “I'm not a perfect conductor, but I am taking lessons. And now I’m thinking, ‘Well, what can I do with conducting in five years?’ It's opened up this new avenue in my life and it's really invigorating.” (SFCM offers a two-part Intro to Conducting class to undergrads.)

And, she adds, “There's something really fulfilling about having a steady thing. I still do other gigs and I still play in orchestras, but having a place that I drive to every day that I know will be there for me feels good. And after years of unpredictability and not having weekends or sick days or vacation days, all of that’s really nice too.”

Simpson hasn’t forgotten SFCM either: “The San Domenico program works with the Pre-College program at SFCM,” she says. “In the past international students have attended our boarding school in order to attend SFCM’s Pre-College. Plus, I actually sent a few kids to Pre-College this year, and I'm hoping to deepen that relationship in the future.”

From planning to increase admissions to pushing the idea of a performance festival based around the school, Simpson ultimately says, “This job has allowed me to start to dream really big, and I’m trying to hold on to that feeling.”

Learn more about studying strings, viola, or conducting at SFCM.