Life Returns
2025 | Navona Records
Album Overview
Releasing May 23, 2025 on Navona Records
Composer Matthew Evan Taylor is preparing for the studio release of the Metropolis Ensemble and MetLiveArts co-commissioned work, Life Returns. This monumental work trumpets resilience in the face of despair, and the triumph of light and color over darkness.
Life Returns premiered with Metropolis Ensemble and RAJAS Ensemble at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in March 2022, the culminating performance from Matthew’s Postcards to The Met video series in 2021-22 on The Met’s Instagram channel.
The recording will feature a specially formed hybrid orchestra exploring resonances among Indian music, jazz, and other improvisational forms. Performers include Matthew on solo winds and looping station, solo vocalist Ganavya, mrudangam artist Rajna Swaminathan, artists from RAJAS Ensemble and Metropolis Ensemble artists with conductor Andrew Cyr.
“Life Returns is a monumental evening-length work that melds free improvisation and through composition to celebrate resilience and triumph in the face of despair.”
—Slipped Disc
Recent Press
Project Details
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About the Project
Life Returns was written in the years between 2020 and 2022, a time of isolation, fear, and forced introspection. When musicians opened their parts, this is the message they saw:
This is a piece about resilience.
This is a piece about restoration.
This is a piece about resurrection.
This is a piece about re-entry.
This is a piece about growth.
This is a piece about meditation.
This is a piece about repose.
This is a piece about action.
This is a piece about light.
This is a piece about flowers.
This is a piece about seasons.
This is a piece for celebration.
This is a piece celebrating love.
Special Thanks
Heartfelt thanks to Leslie Berman, Herman Taylor, Jasmine Taylor, Limor Tomer, Kate Gilmore, Eric Brewster, The Hermitage Artist Retreat, and Shashtra Summer Collaborative.
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Metropolis Ensemble
Timothy Angulo, percussion
Sasha Berliner, percussion
Andrew Cyr, artistic director / conductor
Mark Dover, clarinet
Emi Ferguson, flute
Emma Frucht, viola
Jay Julio, viola
Jia Kim, cello
Ayane Kozasa, viola
Karen Ouzounian, cello
Evan Runyon, bass
Matthew Evan Taylor, saxophones / flutes
Theo Walentiny, piano
Paul Wiancko, cello
Aaron Wolff, cello
RAJAS
Dave Adewumi, trumpet
Stephan Crump, bass
Ganavya, solo voice
Utsav Lal, piano
Miles Okazaki, guitar
Rajna Swaminathan, mrudangam
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Music by Matthew Evan Taylor.
Performed by Metropolis Ensemble (Andrew Cyr, conductor / artistic director and Matthew Evan Taylor, solo flutes / saxophone) and RAJAS (Ganavya, solo voice and Rajna Swaminathan, mrudangam).
Mixing by Machines with Magnets.
Mastering by Silas Brown, Legacy Sound.
Recorded on March 24, 2022 at Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium.
A MetLiveArts and Metropolis Ensemble 2021-2022 co-commission.
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 project is made possible by the Adrienne Arsht Fund for Resilience through Art.
Artwork by Juniper Creative LLC, commissioned by Metropolis Ensemble (2021).
Photos by Stephanie Berger, courtesey of The Metropolitan Museum of Art / MetLiveArts.
Album design by Armistead Booker.