Simon Casali (b. 1979) was accepted at an early age into the young talent violin class at the Utrecht School of the Arts in The Netherlands. At the age of 17 he started his composition studies with Henk Alkema, which he later combined with orchestral conducting. Before finishing composition (2003) and conducting (2004) he was a guest student at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague for two years. For many years he took private lessons with world-renowned conductor Ed Spanjaard. In Copenhagen at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, he was a pupil of Frans Rasmussen and Giancarlo Andretta, and in Helsinki (Finland) at the Sibelius Academy a pupil of Leif Segerstam and Jorma Panula. He has attended masterclasses of Benjamin Zander, János Fürst, Jorma Panula and Bernard Haitink.

Simon Casali has assisted at the Dutch Reisopera, Danish Royal Opera and his studies have brought him to conduct the National Symphony Orchestra of Lithuania, the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra, the Szeged Symphony Orchestra in Hungary, the Copenhagen Philharmonic and the symphony orchestras of Aalborg, Odense, Sønderjylland and Århus. He is the co-founder and artistic leader of the Hafnia Chamber Orchestra.