Life Returns

March 24, 2022 — 7pm
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

Join us to experience live and in-person the World Premiere performance of Life Returns by composer Matthew Evan Taylor — music that trumpets resilience in the face of despair, and the triumph of light and color over darkness.

The evening-length new work, co-commissioned* by The Met Museum and Metropolis Ensemble, will feature musicians from the group RAJAS who explore resonances among Indian music, jazz, and other improvisational forms (led by mrudangam artist Rajna Swaminathan), Metropolis Ensemble's chamber orchestra, Ganavya (solo voice), and Taylor himself performing on solo winds and looping station.

*A MetLiveArts and Metropolis Ensemble 2021-2022 co-commission.

 
 
 
 
 

Postcards to The Met

Life Returns is the culmination of a monthly video series (March 2021—March 2022) called Postcards to The Met, featuring Matthew Evan Taylor in collaboration with many of the musicians featured in this live concert event.

The elements of this one year time-lapse musical performance formed the creative inspiration for the evening-length MetLiveArts commission produced and developed by Metropolis Ensemble.

 

Life Returns Digital Premiere

Metropolis and MetLiveArts presented the digital premiere of our “Life Returns” concert on February 14, 2023 via YouTube.

Prior to the premiere, Limor Tomer from MetLiveArts moderated a Zoom discussion about the composition process and its lasting impact with composer Matthew Evan Taylor, conductor and Metropolis artistic director Andrew Cyr, and RAJAS founder and mrudangam artist Rajna Swaminathan.

 
 

Meet the Artists

 
 

Recent Press

Featured
Metropolis on WQXR
Metropolis on WQXR

Listen on-demand to Metropolis artists on WQXR’s Young Artists Showcase hosted by Emi Ferguson, including excerpts from Matthew Evan Taylor's Life Returns.

Middlebury Magazine: Sonic Art
Middlebury Magazine: Sonic Art

What began as an attempt by Matthew Evan Taylor to collaborate with fellow musicians during the isolation of the pandemic ended up being a yearlong project that culminated in an evening performance at the Met.

The Journey to Life Returns
The Journey to Life Returns

Witness a yearlong time-lapse musical performance of an original work by composer and saxophonist Matthew Evan Taylor.

 
 
 

Life Returns is commissioned and produced by MetLiveArts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Department of Live Arts, bringing the Museum into conversation with contemporary creators and encouraging the discovery of untested modes of performance. This program is made possible by the Adrienne Arsht Fund for Resilience through Art.

Photos by Stephanie Berger, courtesey of The Metropolitan Museum of Art / MetLiveArts.
Artwork by Juniper Creative LLC, commissioned by Metropolis Ensemble (2021).