TICKETS: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/simone-baron-arco-belo-at-eyedrum-tickets-277790728547
Eyedrum curators George long & Mike Stasny present:
SIMONE BARON & GENRE-FLUID ENSEMBLE ARCO BELO TO PERFORM NEW PROJECT “THE NEW SURREALISTS”
featuring Simone Baron (piano/accordion) with rhythm section, percussion and strings on a journey of original music
Praised as "ego-less, genre-agnostic and without expectations, the sound of the future today" (Jazz Times), SIMONE BARON & genre-fluid chamber-jazz outfit Arco Belo will tour her upcoming concert project “The New Surrealists” throughout the Southeast US this March, in anticipation of their new album, “Never Meet Your Heroes.” Arco Belo brings together a daringly unorthodox instrumentation – accordion, violin, viola, cello, piano, double bass, and percussion/drum set – that “truly synthesizes traditions rather than simply flirting with them.” (JazzTimes)
The tour will kick off with a residency at the Hambidge center, before heading northward through Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, DC, MD, PA, and finally New York City.
Integral to the vision of the tour is a series of free graphic score workshops at each tour stop, focused on broadening access to compositional techniques. Aiming to unlock, demystify and decolonize the role of the composer, the ensemble demonstrates how graphic notation can empower everyone to connect to their inner creativity. In these workshops, Simone Baron and Arco Belo will guide a class through an entire compositional process, starting with a simple drawing, workshopping and composing a piece, and ending with the thrilling experience of performing a piece written by the participants.
About Simone Baron and Arco Belo
“the bandleader showcases her impressive agility...a splendid recording, confirming that she’s a blossoming talent and inventive composer on the rise”
-Downbeat
Polyglot performer and composer, pianist and accordionist, raised between Italy and the US– Simone’s path has always involved “navigating dualities,” as she puts it. Drawing on this complex life experience of “translating,” she welcomes her colleagues to be similarly at home within the ambiguity of it all. The goal of the sophomore album “Never Meet Your Heroes” is to reexamine the creative process, and to question inheritances and traditions. It’s an adventurous, emotionally intense endeavor that dances in the spaces between jazz, chamber music, and folk tunes from around the globe. Arco Belo captures an irreverent sound melding reeds, strings and percussive timbres, and claims the heritage of avant chamber music, jazz, Brazilian music, and Jewish diasporic music. Simone’s compositions are built around highlighting the individuality of her musicians, while telling a compelling story within each piece. Each member of the string trio–Minnie Jordan (violin), Carrie Frey (viola) and Raphael Boden (cello)--hails from a diverse musical background, and Simone’s writing allows them to both blend together beautifully as a string section and to let their individual voices soar as improvisers in solo sections that borrow from jazz, klezmer, and new music. Percussionist Patrick Graney balances a sense of adventure with true sensitivity, covering an enormous range of textures and adding a layer of rhythmic intrigue as bassist Eli Heath anchors the ensemble with his unshakeable sound. Over it all, Simone Baron’s accordion sings clearly, as she “guides the life,” of each note, and guides the ensemble and the audience through each new musical adventure.
Since 2016, Arco Belo has performed for audiences across the US, including at The Kennedy Center, Strathmore, and Brevard Music Center. In 2018 they toured the west coast, appearing in the Cotati International Accordion Festival. Their debut album The Space Between Disguises was released in November of 2019 and lauded as editor’s pick in both Downbeat and JazzTimes magazines. The group has been awarded funding from the Maryland State Arts Council and Chamber Music America towards the recording of a new album in New York City in 2022 under the mentorship of internationally-renowned bassist Linda Oh.
This tour is made possible with the support of Jazz Road, a national initiative of South Arts, which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Simone Baron and Arco Belo “The New Surrealists” Tour Dates
March 1-6 Rabun Gap, GA Residency - Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts March
March 4 Atlanta, GA Eyedrum
March 5 Rabun Gap, GA Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts
March 6 Athens, GA Hendershots
March 8 Asheville, NC
March 9 Greensboro, NC Music Academy of North Carolina
March 10 Durham, NC Sharp 9 Jazz Gallery
March 11 Richmond, VA Shockoe Valley Manufacturing
March 12 Fredericksburg, VA University of Mary William
March 13-14 Washington DC Capitol Bop spotlight residency
March 15 Philadelphia PA Chapel of the Four Chaplains
March 16 Brooklyn, NY Marlborough House
$13 Adv / $18 DOS
$11 Student Price
Additional Donations Day of Show Welcome!
Nobody Denied for Lack of Funds