Mark G. Simon

Mark G. Simon received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition from Cornell University, where he studied with Karel Husa, Steven Stuckey and Robert Palmer. His compositions include orchestral, chamber and vocal works, many featuring the clarinet. His musical history Jennie’s Will was commissioned for the bicentennial of the Village of Dryden, New York in and revived in 2015 for the sesquicentennial of Cornell University. The Carnival of the Subatomic Particles, a 13-movement exploration of particle physics for chamber ensemble and narrator set to a poem by Cornell physicist N. David Mermin, was commissioned and premiered by Music’s Recreation in Ithaca, New York. His Duo for Mandolin and Guitar was written for the Duo Ahlert & Schwab, who have performed it throughout Germany. It is published by Corvus Editions. Murmuration was written for the flute quartet Quaternity, and remains in their repertory. Nevertheless, She Persisted, for three cellos and bass, was written for bassist Ron Wasserman and was premiered by him and three colleagues from the New York City Ballet and New York Philharmonic in May, 2017.

Simon studied clarinet with Harry Schmidt at the Florida State University, and later studied privately with Steven Hartman (principal clarinetist of the New York City Ballet). He has performed with many orchestras in central New York and in Maryland, including the Binghamton Symphony Orchestra, The Ithaca Opera, Tri-Cities Opera, The Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes, the Prince George’s Philharmonic, the Avanti Orchestra of the Friday Morning Music Club, and the Pan American Symphony Orchestra. Since 2012 he has conducted the Montrose Ensemble, an amateur wind octet in Montgomery County, Maryland, for whom he wrote his Harmonie nos. 2, 3 and 4. He also has played chamber music and recitals. This recording comes from recitals performed in Ithaca, New York between 1998 and 2002.