Simon Casciano

Born into a musical family, I began to learn the piano at a very young age. After graduating from Southampton University with a classical music degree I travelled to Italy, where I took up a residency playing and singing in a local piano bar for a year. With this experience behind me I secured a contract on my first cruise ship at the age of 22 as a piano-vocal entertainer. This was a high-pressure job as I needed to learn the piano bar repertoire very quickly and when guests made requests which I didn't yet know, I had the duration of their stay on the ship to teach myself the song so I could play it for them at the very end! On account of these requests I can play many songs from old musicals and films, as well as jazz standards, vintage songs and classical music. For the next seven years I played on many different cruise ships, including the prestigious Queen Mary 2, around the coast of North and South America and Europe as a solo piano bar entertainer and as part of a pop ensemble and jazz trio. Back on dry land I took up a three-year residency at the Dorchester Hotel in London and over the last few years have played in many restaurants, hotels and wedding venues in London and the South-East. Though I most enjoy playing jazz standards, my repertoire also includes a large number of romantic songs and popular classical piano pieces. Unlike many pianists I also sing if requested and play virtually all my repertoire by memory, without sheet music...thanks to my degree-level classical musical training and simultaneous jazz theory and improvisation studies, I am a highly adaptable and accomplished performer!