Name: Wickliffe (Wick) Simmons
Age: 22
Major: Cello Performance
Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia
Check out Wick’s music video for the Imagine Dragons song “Radioactive” here!
Her Campus: Why did you choose cello over any other instrument?
Wick: When I was younger, I always liked listening to the opera music my parents played. They even have videos of me singing along during breakfast and flinging pancakes everywhere. My favorite opera was definitely Carmen. I also used to do school orchestra in the third grade and I used to do chorus. From there I decided I wanted to play an instrument and I chose the viola. My parents didn’t want to put up with the screeching sounds of me learning to play, though, so they showed me a tape of Yo Yo Ma playing the cello—which is easier on the ears—and I decided to go with that instead. After a year of practicing in the school orchestra, my instructor told my parents I had an ear for the cello, and suggested I take private lessons, so I did. Then, in sixth grade I was accepted into the high school orchestra, and in seventh grade I attended the all-state orchestra, which is where I first met other people who were just as passionate about cello as I am.
HC: Can you tell us a little bit about the programs you have been accepted into?
Wick: I was chosen as the String Division winner of the 2016 National YAMAHA Young Performing Artists competition and I’ve been invited to play through them out of Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana this summer. I was also recently accepted to the Aspen Music Festival to study with Richard Aaron and Brinton Smith, and I was accepted into Frans Helmerson’s and Jian Wang’s studios at the Great Mountains Music Festival, which is this summer in South Korea. I’m really looking forward to the programs because I’ll be getting a perspective on playing from someone other than my primary teacher, and I’ll be learning from some of the most well known cello players.
HC: Can you name someone who has inspired you?
Wick: My cello professor Hans Jørgen Jensen and the cello studio overall have really inspired me. Hans knows how to make you work. He knows how to turn your head into a muscle and tune your ear. He really pushes you. I worked with him at a few summer programs in high school and I came to Northwestern to be instructed by him. More than anything, he has showed me to just keep going. He teaches you how to (mimicking a Danish accent) “take it to the edge and be the dude master!”
HC: What other activities are you involved in on campus?
Wick: Music takes up everything for me. Most of the activities I’m involved in on campus are through the music school, like rehearsals and practice.
HC: Do you have any major plans after you graduate?
Wick: At this point, I’m definitely looking towards grad schools on the West Coast or in New England. I really just want to continue performing and see where it takes me.
HC: How do you like to spend your weekends?
Wick: Ideally, practicing with my cello, Gustav, which I’ve had for almost six years. I have a kind of obsessive perfectionist drive to learn pieces well.
HC: What’s one thing you wish more people knew about you?
Wick: People like to assume because I play cello I only listen to classical music. I don’t just like classical music. I also like some electronic, alternative and artists like Ólafur Arnalds and Sigur Rós for their use of sound texture.
HC: What would your ideal date night be like?
Wick: Hmm, what’s something cute I can say? I like adventure. Let’s just hop on the red line and go from there!
In March of 2013, Wick also performed on NPR’s From the Top show, which you can listen to here!