anyone lived in a pretty how town
for narrator, trombone trio, and 16mm film (2003)

This piece is a multimedia setting of the poem of the same name by e.e. cummings. I have always loved this poem and wished to use it as a narrative on which I would mix music and moving image together in a performance setting. The music for trombones and voice was composed along with the editing of various film images shot in an alleyway in downtown Boston–a space I became fascinated with while location scouting around Eastern Massachusetts. In focusing on this space, and exploring all its nooks and crannies, I hoped to portray the love story between anyone and noone not by their direct representation as characters, but by their absence: that this love affair may have existed, maybe here in this place, but was brief and is now gone.

Video excerpt of performance at The Tank, NYC, April 29th 2004
This video is the best way to see the project as it was performed. However, the image quality is not perfect and neither is the audio because the camera (which was recording audio from the attached camera mic) needed to be placed next to the noisy 16mm film projector.
Performers: Meredith Schweig (voice); Andrew Pollock, Amanda McConneghey, Jacob Richman (trombone)

Media Representation Excerpt
This video transfer of just the film images (not the performance) shows them clearly, and the superimposed audio is from a good audio recording of a performance of the piece at Harvard University.
Performers: Meredith Schweig (voice); Andrew Pollock, Cassandra Wolos, Jacob Richman (trombone)