He was born in Liverpool, England. After graduating from the University of Surrey and the Royal Academy of Music in 1978 (at the University of Surrey he obtained the title of Master of Arts in 1992), he became a conductor and accompanist, and a year later the permanent conductor of the Opera and Ballet of SNG Maribor. Since then, he has conducted many operas, operettas, musicals and ballets. 

He recorded a series of records for the Slovenian musical heritage collection. He also works as an associate professor for conducting at the Faculty of Education of the University of Maribor and for musical literature at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana.

 

In 1983, he received a prize at the Leeds International Conducting Competition and began a series of guest appearances in Austria, Italy, Germany, France, Croatia, Serbia and Great Britain. He regularly collaborates with the Slovenian Philharmonic, conducts the RTV Slovenia Symphony and the Croatian Military Symphony Orchestra, and leads the Maribor Academic Choir. He was the guest conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic and conducted orchestras such as the Collegium musicum from Guildford, the symphony orchestras of the University of Surrey, the Royal Academies of Music from London and Cambridge, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from Liverpool, the English National Opera from Leeds, the Prague Radio Orchestra, etc. . 

He successfully toured Europe with the Maribor Academic Choir, and at the 15th national competition Naša pesem in 1997 in Maribor, the choir under his leadership received the gold plaque of Maribor. In addition to the prize of the international conducting competition in Leeds in 1983, he also received the rector's prize of the University of Maribor (in 1997) and the Glazer prize. Simon Robinson is the president of the Slovenian-British Association and the representative for British affairs for north-eastern Slovenia at the British Embassy. In 2006, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire by the Queen of England.