Simon Sargon (1938-2022) was a renowned composer, pianist, conductor, and educator whose rich and varied body of work includes liturgical and secular pieces; opera and musical theatre; works for youth ensemble; choral and art song; and chamber ensemble and symphonic works. Sargon was born in Mumbai, India and grew up in Boston, obtaining degrees from Brandeis University and the Juilliard School. He taught at Sarah Lawrence College and Juilliard before serving as Head of the Voice and Opera Department at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance.

For 27 years as Director of Music at Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, Texas he led one of the most distinguished programs in American Jewish music and also served on the music faculty of Southern Methodist University as director of the Opera Theatre and Professor of Composition. The Dallas Symphony Orchestra premiered several of his works to critical acclaim. His compositions are published by Transcontinental Music and Hal Leonard, among others, and his work as composer and pianist may be heard on several labels, including New World, Crystal, Klavier, Ongaku, and Gasparo. The prestigious Milken Archive of Jewish Music and Hampsong Foundation's Song of America include several of his song cycles. Sargon introduced the world premiere of his dramatic multi-movement choral work, Azkara: A Jewish Requiem, at the Park Avenue Synagogue in New York City as part of its Kristallnacht commemoration program, "A Jewish Requiem: Music, Memory, and the Will to See."