The NYC Globe headlined, BRAVO – A RESOUNDING OVATION, it read

An irrepressible, glorious night at the Annual Celebrating Carnegie Soloist for 2008 (ACCS) as two of the most talented musicians Todd Kidd and Shannon Reed came together to “splendorize” an already splendid piece by Rubenstein – Melody in F, Opus 3, No. 1. No where else have I seen such steady playing with movements that bound and speak to your soul. Shannon Reed, the winner of the ACCS in the instrument soloist category, played with the exuberance of someone with a most pained heart. That may seem contradictory but it’s not. You need a pained heart to play this piece because underneath it’s beautiful lilting melody is the heart of a sad composer. Rubenstein was such a composer.

Shannon Reed captured this sentiment and it emanated from not only his cello but his face and the way he moved his hands about the cello. He held it like it was a strange cello, an instrument he’d never seen before, or had ever seen it looking this way. His feet held softly, hands determined to irradiate something all over the keyboard like skates over an icy pond. Shannon Reed held his head up at the end of the piece, but during the bulk of it, aligned it horizontally with his shoulders and never raised it – keeping his ear near the strings and his eyes on the F holes.

Never once did he have eye contact with the audience. This is an unusual skill as mainly soloists use the audience to gage sound, response and orient themselves to place and pressure. Shannon Reed did not do any of this, instead, listening to the cello’s needs, noticing the breaks and moans as if remembering making love to a beautiful woman for the first time. Sometimes holding the instrument in place, climbing up and down the keyboard, his fingers like a praying mantis set loose, and bowing the strings determined for it to be the only thing in the world there was left to do… except maybe die. He seemed sad, like a man on his way to a gulag, guillotine, or jail cell. To his merit, the piece rang out over the Grand Hall in a glorious spray that seemed to grow in beauty as it passed through the upper balconies on its way back to center stage. The once unknown cellist, Shannon Reed, is a miracle musician.

The NY Times Art Section Column, Alana’s Page, writer Alana Landry wrote

“He’s loud, boisterous and the happiest man alive. He is Shannon Reed, winner of the Annual Celebrating Carnegie Soloist for 2008 in the instrumental soloist category. He plays a killer cello, he’s tall and charming and get this ladies… he’s single and bears a striking resemblance to George Clooney although he denies this saying, “George is shorter and has a smaller villa in Italy.” I got to spend the afternoon with him after his win was announced and asked him what plans he had for his $100,000 dollar purse that comes with winning. I couldn’t nail him down except he plans on buying an expensive electric razor to shave away any resemblance of George Clooney – forget it Shannon, the resemblance is permanent. He’s part owner of a bar in the Bowery called the Blue Cut and he can be seen there with his brother Sam Reed, a trumpet player for the New York Phil’, and his older brother Mark Reed a successful art dealer. They’re quite a trio of single men, ladies, each handsome and successful artists, if that’s your type. He was flirting with the guest conductor Melody Barnes who he left to have dinner with and when he exited I did see his daring and dangerous side, his menacing drive to get what he wants: Ms. Melody Barnes. I heard him say to her, “I left blood… all over the cello.” I wonder what’s really going on between them….”

The Bowery Register wrote

Mark Thomas Reed 1960-2009

You probably knew him by the way he took your coat at the Bowery night spot, he owned, known as The Blue Cut. Mark Reed was always the greeter and always the winner at the pool tables. Mark Reed passed away yesterday after being found in a SoHo artist’s loft with a life ending wound to the throat.

Mark was 47 and had just purchased an original Chagall painting at Sotheby’s which was one of several original paintings he purchased over the years. Mark Reed had a degree in Art History from Oxford Britannia College but had a business sense far exceeding anything he ever did in the art world. He recently sold a rare first edition of Ernest Hemingway’s, The Old Man and the Sea reportedly for six figures. Mark recently commissioned Monkey River Tours the illustrious opportunity to bring his collection, including several Maxfield Parrish paintings, to museums worldwide beginning next week in Los Angeles.

A resident of Chelsea, Mark devoted most of his time to the arts serving on committees and donating large sums to keep the arts alive in Harlem schools. He frequented restaurants and loved the budding new ‘chocolate scene’ and was a wine connoisseur. Mark Reed swam the English Channel, climbed Mount Everest and sang in the Greenwich Village Green-Voice Choir of Men. He finished the NYC Marathon twice and knew Tom Cruise as a personal, name-basis, friend. These last few things were found on his list of ‘what’s left to do in life’ in his bedroom near his bed – we will miss you, Mark.