Episode 91 — March 2, 2021
Clay Zeller-Townson and Matthew Aucoin: “Dear Roscoe” for baroque bassoon and piano
Performed by Clay Zeller-Townson and Matthew Aucoin

Baroque bassoonist Clay Zeller-Townson and his partner, composer Matthew Aucoin, have a rich history of enjoying music together, but have never sat down and jammed as a duo. For this House Music series video, they change that, performing a new piece titled Dear Roscoe together. Lately, Zeller-Townson had wanted to explore new pathways for Baroque bassoon music making, so in this piece, he plays multiphonics on his baroque bassoon as if it’s a growling saxophone, while Aucoin blends punchy piano underneath.

Zeller-Townson first became acquainted with Metropolis through friend and collaborator, Emi Ferguson. Ferguson is a flutist who regularly performs with the group; she brought Zeller-Townson into the mix for Metropolis’s upcoming J.S. Bach-Charlie Parker Festival, in which his Ruckus Early Music will be one of the featured ensembles. For Zeller-Townson, dance is the core tenet of music making, and Parker and Bach represent two different eras of dance and its influence on music making; working on this project has been a way to deeply explore his interest in movement.

Collaborating with Metropolis also led Zeller-Townson to the person who inspired this House Music series video, jazz instrumentalist, composer, and all-around inspirational musician Roscoe Mitchell. As they begin a journey with commissioning a major new work from Mitchell as part of the Festival (also with Metropolis Ensemble and Immanuel Wilkins’ jazz quartet), Zeller-Townson has unlocked the potential of curiosity; Mitchell is 80 years old, but he’s always finding ways to make new music and to learn more about his surroundings. In this video, Zeller-Townson incorporates handwritten letters that keep Mitchell up to date on what he’s learning from putting himself in new sonic territories.

Notes by Vanessa Ague

 
House Music: Bite-sized concerts recorded at homes around the world

In 2020-21, we created a weekly video series featuring short-form concerts of newly-commissioned works, supporting 208 artists around the world during the pandemic.