Daniel Taylor (countertenor)

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Daniel John Taylor OC (born November 1969), is a Canadian conductor, countertenor and early music specialist. Broadway.com referred to Taylor as "the beloved singer, leading figure in the field of opera and early music and perhaps Canada's most popular voice teacher." Taylor conducts the Trinity Choir, the Theatre of Early Music and Professor of Opera, Voice and Early Music at the University of Toronto. He is a guest instructor in Italy at the Siena School for Liberal Arts, in the United States at the Oberlin Conservatory and in France in association with Les Arts Florissants.

Life and career

Daniel Taylor completed his undergraduate studies in English, philosophy and music at the Faculty of Music of McGill University (Montreal) and his graduate work in religion and music at the Université de Montréal. He continued overseas at the Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music in London with leaders of the baroque movement including the countertenor Michael Chance.[1]

Taylor's Glyndebourne debut in the 1997 Peter Sellars's production of Handel's Theodora was followed by his operatic debut in Handel's Rodelinda. His other operatic roles have included Nerone in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea, Hamor in Handel's "Jephtha", Oberon in Britten's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and Tolomeo in Handel's Giulio Cesare. Taylor's repertory includes sacred works, lute songs, and contemporary works.

Taylor has performed with: Metropolitan Opera, Glyndebourne, San Francisco, Rome, Welsh National Opera, Canadian Opera, Opera North and Munich, Gabrieli Consort, Monteverdi Choir/English Baroque Soloists, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Les Arts Florissants, Academy of Ancient Music), and he regularly joins forces with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Philharmonia Baroque, the Bach Collegium Japan, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Academy of Ancient Music, Fretwork and the King's Consort.

Taylor holds an exclusive contract with Sony Classical Masterworks. He has made more than 120 recordings on many labels including DG Archiv, Sony, Erato, Harmonia Mundi, EMI, Carus, Analekta, Teldec, Atma and the CBC. He is artistic director, founder and conductor of two professional choirs: the Trinity Choir and the Theatre of Early Music . Among the awards, he has won a Gramophone Award, BBC Award, a Juno, the ADISQ and he was named Opus Prizes Discovery of the year and Artist of the Year.

He was involved in the project Bach Cantata Pilgrimage with John Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir to perform and record the complete sacred cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach at historic places throughout Europe. He has worked with John Nelson/Ensemble Orchestral Paris for the CD/DVD of Bach Mass in B minor at Notre Dame in Paris and has also recorded the Bach "Mass in B minor" with the Kammerchor Stuttgart, and in the Dieterich Buxtehude – Opera Omnia of Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir to record the complete works of Dieterich Buxtehude.

Taylor has recorded the solos in Handel's Messiah more often than any other countertenor in the world – these include a DVD/CD with Nagano/Montreal Symphony (for Universal), the DVD/CD with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra (CBC), with Thomas/American Bach Soloists (Koch) and with Bernius/Kammerchor Stuttgart (Carus). He has appeared in this work on the world tour with Gardiner/Monteverdi Choir, as well as with Rilling/New York Philharmonic, Christophers/Boston Handel&Haydn, McGegan/Toronto Symphony and Rilling/Israel Philharmonic.

In recent seasons he appeared in debuts with the Madrid Symphony, with the San Francisco Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, St. Louis Orchestra, in recital at Wigmore Hall, at the Teatro Colón Buenos Aires and at New York's Carnegie Hall; in Avery Fisher Hall and in Beijing at the Forbidden City Concert Hall. His recordings also include projects with the actor Ralph Fiennes, with the Cirque du Soleil and with the actor Jeremy Irons.

Daniel Taylor taught at the University of Ottawa and at McGill University before accepting the post as Director fo Music Studies, Head of Historical Performance and Professor of Voice at the University of Toronto. He has given master classes at the Guildhall, at universities across Canada and the United States as well as at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music in London.

Taylor was awarded the Queen's Jubilee Medal in 2012 and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2021. He was the first recipient ofthe National Medal for Music in 2023. Having appeared at the request of Prime Ministers, Governors General, Presidents and the Queen of England, in 2024, Taylor led choristers from across Canada live on television and radio for the State Funeral of the Honourable Ed Broadbent. Broadbent’s appreciation for the arts extended to leading artists of both the past and present. These artists included Maria Callas, Dame Emma Kirkby, and Daniel Taylor himself. Taylor expressed his admiration for Broadbent, stating, “We live in an increasingly divided society, and I will always be inspired by Ed’s tireless dedication to making our country and the world a better place.” [2]

References

  1. ^ Daniel Taylor on bach-cantatas
  2. ^ Canada, Governor General of. "Governor General Announces 61 New Appointments to the Order of Canada". www.newswire.ca. Retrieved 2021-01-01.

External links