Simone Baron & Arco Belo

About the Artist

Simone Baron is a polyglot pianist, accordionist, improviser and composer whose work “ego-less, genre agnostic and without expectations” (JazzTimes) engages curiously and charismatically with a broad spectrum of idioms. Educated at Oberlin and Tel Aviv University and joyfully de-educated at festivals and performances across Europe and the Americas, Simone has won grants, fellowships and residencies from Chamber Music America, South Arts, Maryland State Arts Council, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the Hambidge Center, iPark, Strathmore Foundation, ArtOMI, UMD, Avaloch Farm, the Banff Centre, and Spectrum Toronto. In 2016 Simone founded Arco Belo, a touring GenreFluid chamber ensemble. Simone is a Victoria Artist and plays a Poeta XB Accordion. Arco Belo is a group of high-energy improvisers dedicated to redefining the concert form. The GenreFluid ensemble captures an irreverent sound melding reeds, strings, and percussive timbres, reimagining a sound at the intersection of avant-garde chamber music, creative jazz, Brazilian music, and Jewish diasporic music. Arco Belo has toured the West Coast and Southeast to critical acclaim. Their debut album, The Space Between Disguiseswas lauded as editor’s pick in both Downbeat and JazzTimes magazines.