Matthew Evan Taylor: Postcard 2
Credits
Matthew Evan Taylor, composition and alto saxophone
María Grand, tenor saxophone
Developed and produced by Metropolis Ensemble
Andrew Cyr, Founder/Artistic Director
Sam Kann, Videography (Vermont)
Pedro de las Rosas, Videography (Mexico)
Christopher Botta, Editor
Juniper Creative LLC, Art
Commissioned and produced by The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Live Arts
This program is made possible by the Adrienne Arsht Fund for Resilience through Art.
Matthew Evan Taylor: Postcards to The Met
Postcard 2: April 2021
Postcard 2 was filmed in Middlebury, Vermont, April 3, 2021; Río Cuchujaqui, Sierra de Álamos, Sonora, Mexico, April 5, 2021; and Álamos, Sonora, Mexico, April 7, 2021.
Program Notes
To Maria –
The meeting place is water. The first civilizations were innervated by tributaries and Streams of the Nile, the Tigris, the Amazon. The mysterious cenotes of the Yucatan promised to be pathways To the Great Beyond
Even now, though many societies seem to take it for granted, I admit an awe at how powerful and unknowable this substance Truly is... It's life-giving and life-taking.
Like Wildebeest or Zebra in the Serengeti, We underestimate water at our own peril...
Let's drink
Matthew Evan Taylor, April 7, 2021
—
Score Preview
I was surprised, intrigued, and honored that Matthew and Andrew asked me to do a Postcard.
Hearing Matthew’s music, I felt that there was a new direction there; so sincere, and so focused on breath. Each breath felt present.
And these days I struggle with presence. It seems that the omnipresence of technology is pulling me further and further away from simple presence. I steal moments to look at the sky, but the work of Zoom and screens is a bit like adding a level of illusion to a life already fraught with it.
Somehow, though, miraculously, hearing Matthew’s music through earbuds as I was standing on a rock, in a river, I felt a connection between technology, nature, and presence. This was a good way to let breath guide me, to let the music guide me. I’m grateful for this process, and grateful for this music so present; so clearly created by breath; so limpid.
María Grand, April 7, 2021
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