Nicolas Simion (born Nicolae Simion in 1959, Dumbrăvița, Romania) is a Romanian jazz saxophonist and composer. Simion studied classical music at the Music Academy in Bucharest. During the 1980s, Simion co-founded the ensemble Opus 4 with Mircea Tiberian and Dan Mândrilă, performing at jazz festivals in Warsaw and East Berlin. In 1989, Simion relocated to Vienna, collaborating with musicians including Art Farmer, Leo Wright, and Idris Muhammad. Simion released the debut album Black Sea in 1992 and performed as a member of Mal Waldron’s quartet. Simion’s career included collaborations with Tomasz Stańko, Lee Konitz, and Dusko Goykovich. After moving to Cologne in 1997, Simion founded the 7Dreams Records label in 2004. Simion received the Körnerpreis in 1996 for the ballet music The Unfinished Square and was awarded the WDR-Jazzpreis for Improvisation in 2015. Since 2006, Simion served as a teacher in Mönchengladbach.
