Our Story

GAMI/Simonds, LLC is a full service management and booking agency founded and based in Morris, CT, with a western U.S. office located in Portland, OR.  Directors Laurelle Favreau and Don Verdery have each been passionately working in Arts Management for over three decades.

Favreau began her career in 1983 with Canada’s General Arts Management Inc. (GAMI), where she became Vice President and eventually owner. She had the pleasure of representing some of Canada’s most respected musicians, composers, and conductors. She has lent her voice and ear to the on-going, performing arts dialogue through serving on several boards, facilitating projects around arts awareness, and lobbying for the arts industry.

Verdery founded Simonds Management in 1982, promoting the careers of classical and world-music artists in the United States and Europe. His first client under Simonds Management was Verdery’s brother, acclaimed classical guitarist, Benjamin Verdery.

Prior to the formal founding of Simonds Management, Don Verdery spent seven years as manager/agent for the Cobble Mountain Band, a country-rock group from the Berkshires. From 1986 to 1991, Verdery was the Executive Producer for the D'Addario Foundation for the Performing Arts.

In 1991, they merged their respective companies (Simonds Management of Morris, CT, and General Arts Management, Inc (GAMI) of Toronto, Ontario) to form GAMI/Simonds, LLC.