In February 2009, Simon Gaudenz won the "Deutscher Dirigentenpreis", which carries in it the highest award of any conductor competition in Europe. In great demand internationally, he is frequently invited to conduct prestigious orchestras, including the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Orchestre National de France, the SWR Radiosinfonieorchester Stuttgart, the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic, the National Philharmonic of Russia, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra Saarbrücken, the Sinfonieorchester Basel, the Philharmonic Orchestras of Monte Carlo, Lyon, Luxembourg and Strasbourg, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Düsseldorf, Nürnberg, Bremen and Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestras, the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, and many more.

He regularly works with Gidon Kremer, Barbara Bonney, Victoria Postnikova, Arabella Steinbacher, Lauma Skride, Sebastian Knauer, Lise de la Salle, Martin Stadtfeld and Andreas Brantelid among others.

He has been Music Director and Chief Conductor at the Collegium Musicum in Basel from 2004 to 2011, including successful tours, CD recordings and engagements abroad. Before he spent four years as Music Director at Basel’s Camerata Variabile. He has also been named Principal Guest Conductor of the Odense Symphony Orchestra for a three-year tenure starting as of the 2010/2011 season.

Simon Gaudenz has received many honours and prizes, including the first prize at the Gennady Rozhdestvensky International Conducting Competition in 2006 and the "Akademie Musiktheater heute" scholarship (sponsored by Deutsche Bank) in 2005. Between 2004 and 2009, he received a stipend from "Dirigentenforum des Deutschen Musikrats" programme. In 2009, he was awarded the Swiss Aargauer Kuratorium Cultural Foundation’s Artist Prize for the third time for his contribution to the arts.

Tours, festival appearances, CD productions and numerous radio recordings complete his extensive repertoire of artistic activities.

Simon Gaudenz studied the clarinet, composition and conducting in Lucerne, Graz, Freiburg and Salzburg. His career received an important impulse when working with Leon Fleisher, Kurt Masur, David Zinman and Eliahu Inbal. His interest in historical performance practise was encouraged by Reinhard Goebel and Arnold Östman.