About David
David C. Symons is an accordionist, composer, singer, and accordion technician living in New Orleans since 2012. He founded and currently leads New Orleans-based Brechtian European “chamber folk” cabaret ensemble The Salt Wives, klezmer band Klezervation Hall, Vermont-based band Inner Fire District, founded legendary Vermont bands Black Sea Quartet and The Brass Balagan, and has played in many bands, including Obliquestra, Daniel Kahn and The Painted Bird, Ezekiel’s Wheels, Debauche, and The Underscore Orkestra. He is a former musical director of Spielpalast Cabaret in Burlington, and has worked as a composer for The Vermont Stage Company, as well as acting in many plays. He originated the role of Hades in the original 2006 and 2007 productions of Anais Mitchell’s folk opera Hadestown. David is a former faculty member at The Summit School in Montpelier, VT, where he taught a course on klezmer music. He operates Big Squeezy Accordion Repair and Tuning, and is a founder of the New Orleans Accordion Festival and founder of Brechtfest, an annual musical tribute to Bertolt Brecht.
Photos
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- Inner Fire District circa 2018
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- Inner Fire District, 2015
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- Accordionist • Singer • Composer • Klezmer
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- Drama clown from the No Ring Circus
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- Hadestown, 2007. Photo by Rick Levinson.
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- Hadestown, 2007. With Anais Mitchell as Eurydice and Ben Matchstick as Hermes. Photo by Rick Levinson.
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- David and Lydia Busking at the French Market, New Orleans
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- The Salt Wives
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- Gaza Freedom March, Cairo
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- The Brass Balagan in Davis Square, Somerville, MA
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- With Gabi Shapiro in Manhattan
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- Brass Balagan at Greenwich Village Halloween Parade 2011
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- Punk Rock on Church Street, Burlington, VT
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- With Terry McCants in Spielpalast Cabaret
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- Shilling with Spielpalast Cabaret for our show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
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- In Edinburgh, 2011
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- Busking in Kasimierz, the old Jewish quarter of Krakow -1
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- Busking in Kasimierz
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- Inner Fire District sans Tyler
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- with Wallace Shawn. By coincidence, we were performing separate simultaneous productions of his single-character play The Fever.
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- With The Painted Bird in Erfurt, Germany
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- David playing with The Painted Bird, Klezkanada 2007 faculty concert
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- Peg Tassey's The Kissing Circle
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- As Hades in the first full production of Anais Mitchell's Hadestown, 2007. Photo by Rick Levinson.
Videos
Mini version of The Salt Wives (ordinarily a 5-6 piece) playing my (rather Satie inspired) composition 70 Miles To London.
Joseph McGinty – violin
Lydia Stein – euphonium
David C. Symons – Christmas light festooned accordion, composer
Recorded at Art Klub in New Orleans by The ElekTrik Zoo, December 31st, 2016
The Brass Balagan at Occupy Burlington
Stuck in Vermont TV show. Correction: I said “Radical Yiddish/Balkan Chamber Folk”.
David performing “The Ballad of Edward the Young” by Daniel Kahn in Spielpalast Cabaret. Featuring Seth Gillim (Edward), Laura Wolfson (Lucia), Bon Provenzano (Rodolpho), Cami Clark and Aziza Malik (Cigar Girls).