Mark Simon Music in New York

[diegobueno]

To those in the New York area: a chance to hear some Mark Simon music.
"Nevertheless, She Persisted" will be performed at the Bar Thalia on W. 95th St. and Broadway, 7:00ish. The jaw-droppingly amazing players will be:
Patrick Jee, cello (NY Philharmonic)
Joseph Lee, cello (NYC Ballet)
Andrew Yee, cello (Attacca Quartet)
Ron Wasserman, bass (NYC Ballet)

I'll be there. Come meet me, have a drink, enjoy some spectacular playing.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1860181370927070/

[maestrob]

Congratulations, Mark, you've made it to the Big Apple!

[diegobueno]

Congratulations, Mark, you've made it to the Big Apple!

Thank you! This is a very informal setting, a bar rather than a concert hall. They are playing 3 or 4 other new pieces and the rest of the evening will be jazz. I don't know how the people who come for the jazz will react to the new compositions.

BTW, I need to give a giant thank you to Joe Barron for getting me in touch with Ron Wasserman, whose idea it was to do this.

[Lance]

Indeed, congrats to you, Mark. If I was in NYC, I would be there! Lotsa luck.

[jbuck919]

Congratulations, Mark, you've made it to the Big Apple!

Thank you! This is a very informal setting, a bar rather than a concert hall.

It could be said that you are raising the bar for the possibilities of alternative venues.

[diegobueno]

I'm not too concerned about their choice of venue. It sounds like they want to make it an ongoing ensemble, so they might well have occasion to play it in a regular concert hall in the future.

[diegobueno]

Here is the performance. The group had two hours to rehearse four pieces, and since my piece is complicated, they asked me to come up and conduct them. I had to put aside my apprehension of waving a stick in front of people who've played under the best in the business. They just needed someone to keep them together.

It's called Nevertheless, She Persisted : recitatives and dances, in honor of Senator Elizabeth Warren's heroic efforts to make herself heard during the Jeff Sessions hearings. The double bass interrupts the the flow of the music at numerous points (just as it does at the beginning of the finale of Beethoven's 9th symphony. I used the "O freunde nicht diese Töne" to indicate the "don't use that tone of voice" comment that overbearing men often use against women). The piece culminates in an "Amazon Dance" in which the women assert their full power.

[Video deleted. If you missed it you missed it]

[diegobueno]

Nevertheless, She Persisted has been performed again, this time in Silver Spring, Maryland, and I am able to present a video recording of it.

The double bass (replaying a role given to it by Beethoven's 9th symphony) interrupts, rejects and "mansplains" the efforts of the cellos to express themselves. The cellos answer with a polite "Three Graces Dance", but after several more interruptions, escalate to an aggressive "Amazon Dance".

[jbuck919]

Nevertheless, She Persisted has been performed again, this time in Silver Spring, Maryland, and I am able to present a video recording of it.

The double bass (replaying a role given to it by Beethoven's 9th symphony) interrupts, rejects and "mansplains" the efforts of the cellos to express themselves. The cellos answer with a polite "Three Graces Dance", but after several more interruptions, escalate to an aggressive "Amazon Dance".

I like the piece very much, but, irrelevantly, I lived in Takoma Park for seven years. Silver Spring was my back yard, much of it within walking distance (including the late lamented Dale Music Store). It was much more fun for a variety of reasons before it was upscaled.

[diegobueno]

John, this venue is on Georgia Ave., just immediately south of the Beltway, relatively close to the Forest Glen Metro station. I know these musicians from 2 of the orchestras I play in. They're hoping to find an occasion to perform the piece again.

Takoma Park is a funky neighborhood. I like it; it reminds me of Ithaca in a lot of ways. Everyone there is very "Granola", and they have a farmer's market on the main street every weekend, at about the place where the statue is of the beloved chicken who used to reside there (presumably to cross the road).