[Postponed to 2024] Shelley Hirsch: “And So It Was and Was and WaAAass”

Thursday, November 30, 20238:00 pm

Due to unforeseen circumstances, this performance is postponed until January 23, 2024. All tickets purchased for November 30, whether purchased online or by phone, will be automatically refunded.

Information and new tickets for the January 23 performance can be found here.


The celebrated composer and vocal artist/performer Shelley Hirsch returns to Roulette to present her new NYSCA-commissioned work, And So it Was And Was and WaAAassSSssSss: a night of compositions, improvisations, and texts anchored by her automatic writings generated in response to musical experiences. The texts are empathic, provocative, erotic, surreal, and based on both true and imaginary events with themes that contrast in focus, humor, timbre, arrangements, emotion, and personnel. The performance will include Hirsch’s suite of songs called “Sext Tongs,” featuring sample-infused accompaniments — Joanna Mattrey and Cleek Schrey on strings, Alice Cohen on keyboards and voice, Ka Baird on piano, and Lindsey Wilson, Dafna Naphtali, and Luisa Muhr on vocalsilluminating her stream of consciousness writings with synchronized animated video projections of text and images by Scott Kiernan. Lighting consulting by Eric Muzzy.

The second part of the evening includes “trance-like” language improvisations and collaborations, with video images, Greek chorus and a featured duet with Ka Baird on flute, voice and electronics.

“A unique poetry…telling of the waywardness and drift of language…full of lust and humour, lasciviousness and rebellion…” —Süddeutsche Zeitung


Born and raised in East New York Brooklyn, Shelley Hirsch has been pushing boundaries with her unique vocal art drawing on her life experiences, her memory, and her vivid imagination for decades. She has presented her compositions, staged multimedia works, improvisations, radio plays, installations, and collaborations in concert halls, clubs, festivals, theaters, museums, galleries, and on radio, film, and television on five continents. Hirsch’s fellowships and awards include The Foundation For Contemporary Arts Grants for Artists; The John Simon Memorial Guggenheim Fellowship; A Creative Capital Grant; NYFA fellowships in both Music and Interdisciplinary categories; AIR Grants from The DAAD in Berlin, Havestworks, Yaddo, Queenslab, etc, and  NYSCA Individual Artist Commissions, the latest in  for a music composition commission which will premiere in Winter, 2023 and a grant from NYFA  NYC Women’s Fund for a recording which will be released in Sept 2023  Hirsch can be heard on seventy plus recordings. In 2018, her archives were acquired by the Fales Library at NYU for their Downtown Collection.

“And So It Was and Was and WaAAass” by Shelley Hirsch was commissioned by Roulette, made possible with funds provided by the New York State Council on the Arts. This performance is presented through Roulette’s GENERATE program, providing over 30 artists each year with in-depth creative and technical support.

Additional support: NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theater for a recording grant

[Postponed to 2024] Shelley Hirsch: “And So It Was and Was and WaAAass”

Thursday, November 30, 20238:00 pm

Due to unforeseen circumstances, this performance is postponed until January 23, 2024. All tickets purchased for November 30, whether purchased online or by phone, will be automatically refunded.

Information and new tickets for the January 23 performance can be found here.


The celebrated composer and vocal artist/performer Shelley Hirsch returns to Roulette to present her new NYSCA-commissioned work, And So it Was And Was and WaAAassSSssSss: a night of compositions, improvisations, and texts anchored by her automatic writings generated in response to musical experiences. The texts are empathic, provocative, erotic, surreal, and based on both true and imaginary events with themes that contrast in focus, humor, timbre, arrangements, emotion, and personnel. The performance will include Hirsch’s suite of songs called “Sext Tongs,” featuring sample-infused accompaniments — Joanna Mattrey and Cleek Schrey on strings, Alice Cohen on keyboards and voice, Ka Baird on piano, and Lindsey Wilson, Dafna Naphtali, and Luisa Muhr on vocalsilluminating her stream of consciousness writings with synchronized animated video projections of text and images by Scott Kiernan. Lighting consulting by Eric Muzzy.

The second part of the evening includes “trance-like” language improvisations and collaborations, with video images, Greek chorus and a featured duet with Ka Baird on flute, voice and electronics.

“A unique poetry…telling of the waywardness and drift of language…full of lust and humour, lasciviousness and rebellion…” —Süddeutsche Zeitung


Born and raised in East New York Brooklyn, Shelley Hirsch has been pushing boundaries with her unique vocal art drawing on her life experiences, her memory, and her vivid imagination for decades. She has presented her compositions, staged multimedia works, improvisations, radio plays, installations, and collaborations in concert halls, clubs, festivals, theaters, museums, galleries, and on radio, film, and television on five continents. Hirsch’s fellowships and awards include The Foundation For Contemporary Arts Grants for Artists; The John Simon Memorial Guggenheim Fellowship; A Creative Capital Grant; NYFA fellowships in both Music and Interdisciplinary categories; AIR Grants from The DAAD in Berlin, Havestworks, Yaddo, Queenslab, etc, and  NYSCA Individual Artist Commissions, the latest in  for a music composition commission which will premiere in Winter, 2023 and a grant from NYFA  NYC Women’s Fund for a recording which will be released in Sept 2023  Hirsch can be heard on seventy plus recordings. In 2018, her archives were acquired by the Fales Library at NYU for their Downtown Collection.

“And So It Was and Was and WaAAass” by Shelley Hirsch was commissioned by Roulette, made possible with funds provided by the New York State Council on the Arts. This performance is presented through Roulette’s GENERATE program, providing over 30 artists each year with in-depth creative and technical support.

Additional support: NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theater for a recording grant