Dale Butler: Michael Taylor Set For Carnegie
[Written by Dale Butler]
Another Bermudian takes to the Carnegie Hall stage on Friday of this week when he plays his flute in the American Protege International Music Competition. Michael Taylor will be accompanied by Bermudian Dr. Constance Ridley-Smith, who performed last weekend.
Michael Taylor passed the Royal School Of Music Exams to Grade 5 in Music Theory with teacher Kenneth “Toki” Dill; performed with the Bermuda Regiment, Bermuda Philharmonic, Brass Praise; North Village Band under the direction of Erskine Doars and the Somerset Brigade Band. He took private lessons with Steve Rawlinson, Ghandi Burgess, and Lloyd Williams. Michael is currently pursuing the Certificate in Core Music Skills from The Juilliard School of Music in New York. Michael entered a Woodwind Competition [instruments like flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon] and won the opportunity to perform in the auspicious Carnegie Hall.
He is a fan of flutists Barbara Ann “Bobbie” Humphrey, Herbie Mann, and Hubert Laws. In his youth, he played regularly in church [SDA] and was well known for always having his flute. While youthful friends teased him a lot, he was motivated to carry on by Omer St. Valasse, who often remarked, “you will have to pay to hear him one day.”
In 2002 he met pianist Constance Ridley-Smith at the Southampton Seventh-Day Adventist Church during a concert and soon learned they had mutual goals regarding classical and religious music. Later Michael and Constance also performed in the 46th annual Bermuda Festival of the Performing Arts. That performance was during COVID and was virtual, so it reached hundreds around the world and continues to be available for viewing online.
No doubt Michael’s parents, Wilbur Nathaniel Taylor and Grace Louise Adcock Taylor, will have a smile on their faces as they look down from heaven on his performance.
On Friday, June 28, Michael will perform the Flute Sonata in D Minor, a piece composed in the Baroque style by composer Gottfried Finger around 1680. The four movements last around five minutes. The piece has been said to have “an uncertain and emphatically andante sound.” I look forward to Michael’s 7.00pm performance, where he hopes to bring out the ornaments that are typical of Baroque style, i.e., decorations [trills, grace notes, and succession of sixteenth notes within a phrase]. I will, by all means, report on the same in Part 2.
- Dale Butler has reported on the performance of Dr. Constance Ridley- Smith, published by Bernews, and looks forward to writing about Michael’s performance this week.
Read More About
Category: All, Entertainment, Music
