Composer Tyler Taylor's 'secret' mission: sneak some sax back into the symphony - 48 hills

Tyler Taylor received the Michael Morgan Prize in 2024 and described feeling shocked and overwhelmed. The prize, announced by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the San Francisco Symphony, provided a $15,000 commission fee for a new work titled “Embers.” The piece was workshopped at the Conservatory and is scheduled to premiere with conductor Cristian Măcelaru alongside works by Rachmaninoff and Dvořák. Taylor said the timing was especially helpful because his freelance career after a Louisville Orchestra residency felt uncertain. He also planned to use the funds to replace a long-used 1995 Toyota Camry. His compositions are dense and virtuosic, often using eerie, unexpected musical ideas tied to social and political themes.

"When Tyler Taylor got the phone call in 2024 that he had won the Michael Morgan Prize- aka the Emerging Black Composers Project Prize -he admits he lost it a bit. "I was shocked, I was overwhelmed, I definitely was weak in the knees a bit," he said over Zoom from his hometown Louisville, Kentucky."

"The prize, named after the late Oakland Symphony maestro and announced by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the San Francisco Symphony-came with a $15,000 commission fee for a new piece called "Embers," which was workshopped at the Conservatory and will premiere this weekend at the Symphony, Fri/22-Sun/24, by visionary conductor Cristian Măcelaru, alongside works by Rachmaninoff and Dvořák."

""I was just on the other side of a residency with the Louisville Orchestra, and things were really ambiguous in terms of what was gonna happen next-how this freelance career was going to continue, in terms of direction and sustainability. So to have an escalation like that was really intense, and definitely quite welcome in that moment.""

"Taylor's compositions are dense, virtuosic, full of unexpected, eerie flights-and often contain irresistibly relevant inspirations. Many are dedicated to "creating abstract musical analogies for social-political happenings both present and past." Like other composers of the 33-year-old's generation, his comments about his work, and occasional blockages and redirections, on social media are refreshingly candid, and he's not afraid to let his music be about actual things."

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