Simone Baron & Arco Belo – “never meet your heroes” (feat C.Bacon, C.Subramanian)| From the Archives

In a 2019 interview with CapitalBop on Arco Belo’s debut album The Space Between Disguises, Baron described her music as “genre-queer… my term for this shapeshifting, genre-nonconforming, non-binary music. It’s neither classical nor jazz; neither casual nor formal. This music embodies the spirit of the musical polyglot, restlessly searching for the next texture, the next timbre, the next melody.”

Baron’s two-show residency with CapitalBop in March showcased that relentless searching. Her chamber ensemble Arco Belo occupied the historic All Souls Church — the site where Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd’s groundbreaking album “Jazz Samba” was recorded in 1962 — to share the search with an attentive DC audience, as well as two guest performers: dancer Chitra Subramanian and GRAMMY-nominated musician Christylez Bacon.

CapitalBop’s ’22 Artist Residency presents: Simone Baron & Arco Belo recorded March 14, 2022 at All Souls Church Unitarian, Washington, DC

Simone Baron — piano

Christylez Bacon — beatbox + freestyle

Raffi Boden — cello

Carrie Frey — viola

Patrick Duke Graney — percussion

Eli Heath — double bass

Minnie Jordan — violin

Chitra Subramanian — dance

“never meet your heroes / barraca 73” composed by Simone Baron

produced by: Jamie Sandel for CapitalBop

’22 residency presenting associate: Kelsye Adams

 

cameras: Jamie Sandel, Lauren Honesty, Mike Adeyeye

audio engineers: Jamie Sandel, Donovan Duvall

audio mix + video edit by Jamie Sandel

Special thanks to Simone Baron, Abe Mamet, Paul Milesi, Charlie Pilzer + Tonal Park

The editing and publication of this video was supported by a grant from HumanitiesDC as part of the Humanities Grant Program, an initiative funded by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.