In 1940, aged 13, Simpson became the youngest female musician ever in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO).

As the Sydney Morning Herald wrote in 2008, "Simpson was birdlike, glamorous and self-deprecating but a prize fighter in the cause of music.

[2] Simpson's students included well known Australian cellists Nathan Waks, Julian Thompson, Susan Blake and Timothy Nankervis.

[3] Simpson was married successively to two prominent Australian musicians; Robert Pikler in 1947,[4] with whom in January that year she performed publicly for the first time with Musica Viva Players at the Conservatorium in the Brahms Festival series;[5] and then John Painter in 1962.

[6] On 9 June 2003, Simpson was made an Officer in the Order of Australia "For service to music as an internationally acclaimed cellist, teacher and chamber musician".