Le`Roi Simmonds is a steel pan artist from St. Thomas, Virgin Islands,
with a Bachelor's Degree in Pop Music from Florida Memorial University, and
a Masters Degree in Jazz Studies from New York University. At the age of
ten, Le`Roi started playing the steel pan with the Downstreet
Pandemonium Steel Orchestra. Today, as an adult he specializes in
performance, arranging, and education. Le`Roi presently works for the VI
Superior Court Rising Stars Steel Orchestra as an Instructor/Arranger where
he and his colleagues are always working hard mentoring the youth of the
Virgin Islands using the steel pan, to keep children off the streets and in
school.
With over 20 years of experience, Le`Roi has traveled around the
Caribbean and the United States, winning various awards, such as the
Virginia Panorama Caribbean Festival, Florida Memorial University Research
and Performing Arts Day in Miami, the Music USA Festival in Orlando, and the
Trinidad and Tobago National Junior Steel Band Panorama to name a few.
Some of Simmonds recorded works include steel bands such as the Rising
Stars Youth Steel Orchestra (St. Thomas), E. Benjamin Oliver Steel Owls
(St. Thomas), Florida Memorial Steel Band (Miami), and St. Margaret’s Steel
Orchestra (Trinidad). Le’Roi Simmonds is the Steelpan Director at the University of the Virgin Islands and teaches at Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School in St. Thomas USVI.
NLCB PanoGrama 2021 | Semis - Leroi Simmonds
https://www.facebook.com/reel/844649540642994
Le’Roi speaks about:
Pan in the United States Virgin Islands (USVI)
Musicians - Leon “Foster” Thomas, Collins Peters, Melton Mustafa,
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