Marianna Parnas-Simpson is a graduate of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Russia. She was the founder of KAMERTON, an award-winning St. Petersburg girls’ choir which she directed for ten years before coming to the United States. Since 1999, Ms. Simpson has taught at Parker Elementary School, a Houston ISD magnet school for music, where she has developed the choral program from 30 to 250 students. Parker Music Program received a Grammy® Award in 2002. In 2005, Ms. Simpson was named Teacher of the Year. From 2008 to 2010, Ms. Simpson served as the Artistic Director of the American Boychoir summer program in Princeton, New Jersey.

In 2006, Ms. Simpson founded the Treble Choir of Houston at Christ Church Cathedral. Her choirs have performed at Carnegie Hall and with the Houston Symphony Orchestra.  They have been selected to perform at the national convention of the American Choral Directors Association, Texas Music Educators convention, Organization of American Kodaly Educators multiple times. In 2020, Parker Elementary School chorus was awarded 2nd place in the American Prize National Competition (Youth Choirs Division). Ms. Simpson is in demand as a clinician and guest conductor, offering masterclasses and conducting honor choirs throughout the United States and abroad. Additionally, she is a founding member of the Grammy® Award-winning Houston Chamber Choir. She recorded six CDs distributed by MSR and Signum labels.