Daniel Taylor records with the famous Cirque du Soleil:

Daniel will feature on the new soundtrack with the Cirque de Soleil, due out this Fall

 

Critical praise for Daniel and the TEM choir in concerts at the Festival of Music and Beyond.

"If there's a better countertenor in the world than Daniel Taylor, he keeps himself well hidden. "
"....the beauty of his sound and especially his phrasing are extraordinary.

He and some colleagues put on a brief concert of Lute Songs in St. John's at 11 p.m. Saturday. In addition to the lutenist, David Jacques, the instrumentalists included viol da gamba players Susie Napper and Kyle Irving, and some of the singing was done by the silver-voiced young soprano Agnes Zsigovics. Her singing was equal to Taylor's in beauty.....

Among the highlights of the program were the opening duet, Come again, come again and Taylor's rendition of the familiar folk song O Waly, waly.
The late-night audience was substantial, if not at capacity, and the temperature in St. John's had been reduced from broil to a gentle bake. "

Richard Todd, Ottawa Citizen, July 12, 2010

Daniel Taylor’s early-music choir holds audience spellbound at Music and Beyond

"That was celestial", said former federal cabinet minister Monique Begin July 11 at Knox Church, where she was among the music lovers who were standing and cheering the performance by the superb choir of the Theatre of Early Music at Julian Armour’s Music and Beyond classical music festival.

The group was founded and is directed by Ottawa counter-tenor Daniel Taylor, who conducted the singers in music from the 16th and 17th centuries. The Theatre of Early Music also includes an orchestra, but this concert featured the choir on its own.
"I didn’t know Daniel Taylor before this but I will now try always to listen to him," Ms Begin told me as we were leaving the church.

At the July 11 concert, the choir performed with spine-tingling beauty of tone and blend, in music by Tallis. William Byrd, Palestrina and others. The choir capped the concert with a sublime performance of Allegri’s Miserere, which also featured a lyrical dance performance by Coleman, Lemieux et Compagnie. Taylor has assembled a brilliant chamber choir, and the singers never sounded hard or shrill, even in some killer high notes.

Steve Mazey, Ottawa Citizen Monday, July 12 2010

 

Concert review: Bach Festival opener "Bach and Mary, Mother of God" performed lovingly

I recall a ring of my mother’s, a basket-weave pattern of strands of silver and gold, the two metals intertwined in a tight embrace. That’s the best way I can describe the melding of the voices of countertenor Daniel Taylor and soprano Agnes Zsigovics in Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s "Stabat Mater.," It was performed Friday at Packer Memorial Church, in the second half of the Bethlehem Bach Festival’s two-part program entitled "Bach and Mary, Mother of God."

The "Stabat Mater," in its festival debut, was for me the highlight of an entire evening of lovingly performed music.

Pergolesi’s sacred masterpiece is a work of great tenderness and somber beauty. Conductor Greg Funfgeld coaxed a lovely, rich chamber orchestra sound from the Bach Festival Orchestra strings, enhanced by the light touch of Charlotte Mattax Moersch on organ. The hauntingly beautiful voices of Taylor and Zsigovics, she in her festival debut, melted together like two precious metals, hers of bell-like clarity, his a more complex alchemy, with a sheen like liquid mercury.

Bach’s "Magnificat" was brisk and dramatic, with resplendent trumpet fanfares and solid, full-bodied choral sections. Joining Zsigovics was soprano Rosa Lamoreaux, with a voice a bit brighter and more transparent than Zsigovics’ creamy, velvety tone. Zsigovics’ soulful, yearning aria, "Quia respexit," with oboe obbligato by Mary Watt, was a highlight, as was "Esurientes implicit," sung by Taylor and accompanied by flutists Robin Kani and Susan Charlton.

By Steve Siegel, Special to The Morning Call, May 9, 2010

 

 

 

 

Daniel featured on three recent releases:

Carus 83.223 (1 cd) May 2010

Zelenka. Missa Votiva (ZWV 18, 1739) Soloists: Joanne Lunn, soprano Daniel Taylor, countertenor Johannes Kaleschke, tenor Thomas E. Bauer, baritone Stuttgarter Kammerorchester Stuttgarter Kammerchor Conductor: Frieder Bernius

SDG 165 Vol 2 (2 cds) March 2010

Cantatas for the Second Sunday after Trinity J.S. Bach: BWV 2 : Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein BWV 10 : Meine Seele erhebt den Herren BWV 76 : Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes Heinrich Schütz 1585-1672 SWV 386 : Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes (recorded: Basilique Saint-Denis, Paris) Soloists: Lisa Larsson, Daniel Taylor, James Gilchrist, Stephen Varcoe Cantatas for the Third Sunday after Trinity BWV 21 : Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis BWV 135 : Ach Herr, mich armen Sünder BWV 1044 : Concerto for flute, violin and harpsichord (recorded: the Fraumünster, Zürich) Soloists: Katharine Fuge, Robin Tyson, Vernon Kirk, Jonathan Brown The Monteverdi Choir The English Baroque Soloists Conductor: John Eliot Gardiner John Eliot Gardiner's multi award-winning label SDG begins 2010 with volume 2 in its Bach Cantata series, featuring Cantatas for the second and third Sunday after Trinity, recorded live in July 2000.

HML5908357/59 (3 cds) March 2010

Bach - Famous Cantatas Volume 1 J.S. Bach: Cantata BWV21 : Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis Cantata BWV42 : Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats Barbara Schlick, Gérard Lesne, Howard Crook, Peter Harvey & Piet Kooy La Chapelle Royale Cantata BWV12 : Weinen, Klagen, sorgen, Zagen Cantata BWV38 : Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir Cantata BWV75 : Die Elenden sollen essen Carolyn Sampson, Daniel Taylor, Mark Padmore & Piet Kooy Cantata BWV27 : Wer weiss, wie nahe mir mein Ende Cantata BWV84 : Ich bin vergnügt mit meinem Glücke Cantata BWV95 : Christus, der ist mein Leben Cantata BWV161 : Komm, du süsse Todesstunde Dorothee Mields, M. White, Hans Jorg Mammel & Thomas Bauer Collegium Vocale Gent Conductor: Philippe Herreweghe 2010 marks the fortieth anniversary of Collegium Vocale: founded by Philippe Herreweghe at a time when the Baroque revival was still an affair for specialists, the Belgian choir has been at the very heart of the rediscovery of Bach’s sacred music. “few, if any, versions of these cantatas match Herreweghe’s refinement and gentle, unforced eloquence.” Daily Telegraph, May 2005

Daniel Taylor "stops show" - New York, Dec 16th 2009

After Daniel's interpretation of the aria "He was despised" the audience of Avery Fischer Hall could not hold back their "Bravos" and burst into applause in the middle of the presentation of Messiah by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra with Helmut Rilling and the Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart Chorus.

Stabat Mater - UK Gramophone Magazine: Editor's Choice, November 2009

Choosing his ten personal favourites among the discs reviewed in Gramphone’s November issue, James Inverne, the editor of the magazine, selected this BIS CD. In his own, brief comments to his choice, James Inverne wrote:
“There are at least half a dozen recordings of Vivaldi's Stabat mater that I wouldn’t want to be without but this profoundly beautiful version leaps straight into their ranks. The Theatre of Early Music band is small (just single strings and simple continuo) but its playing never feels underweight, and rhetorical qualities in the music are clear yet unforced. ...Taylor's intelligent and stylish singing belongs in a select class alongside a few of the finest and sweetest voices of its type. ...the well chosen programme is rounded off by Tilge, Höchster, meine Sünden (Bach's creative yet respectful adaptation of Pergolesi's Stabat mater, using the text of Psalm 51), in which Emma Kirkby's delicate singing elegantly blends with Taylor's.”

BIS SACD-1546 June 2009

Stabat Mater Bach, Pergolesi, Vivaldi Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741): Sonata ‘Al Santo Sepolcro’ In E Flat Major, Rv130 - TEM orchestra Stabat Mater, Rv621 - Daniel Taylor Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710 - 1736): Salve Regina - Daniel Taylor Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750): Tilge, Höchster, meine Sünden (Psalm 51), BWV1083 (Transcription of Stabat Mater by Pergolesi) Emma Kirkby, soprano Daniel Taylor, Countertenor Theatre of Early Music

Jonathan Woolf (musicweb-international.com)
“A disc as lovely as this should not be overlooked. Vivaldi’s Stabat Mater has hardly lacked for fine recordings over the years but here we have a performance of real distinction and allure. The Theatre of Early Music is a small band - two violins, a viola, cello and bass, with lute and organ - but its tempo decisions and internal balancing are both exemplary. Articulation is crisp - note the cleanly articulated cello line - and the timbral qualities of the string are auspicious. Rhythms are buoyant, and the expressive qualities of the music are held in fine balance. To turn to specifics, the Quis est homo is rendered with delicate refinement, a legato melsima of real eloquence. Daniel Taylor evinces no sense of forcing his counter tenor, and no glorying in its very obvious qualities for the sake of it; some other counter tenors should take note. The tempo for the slow Fac ut ardeat is judged to perfection, with its sense of motion ensuring that the textual meaning is perfectly conveyed. Pergolesi’s compact Salve Regina again evinces strongly meditative qualities in this performance. Here, in the Bach setting of the Pergolesi Stabat Mater, Taylor is joined by Emma Kirkby and their rapport is obvious, the voices well blended, and as before the reflective sense of the chosen tempi conveys a great deal. It’s a very natural, unforced performance with no extraneous gestures, vocal or instrumental, to distract. The depth and pathos are everywhere apparent. ... played with tactile excellence by the string players. ...this reflective disc brings impressive and sensitive qualities to bear, and should on no account be overlooked. ”

BBC Music Magazine, October 2009 *****
“Emma Kirkby at her most serene is matched by Taylor as if they were two faces of a single musical entity. With first-rate surround-sound recording and a warm ambience, this is a disc not to be missed.”

Classic CD Germany
“..with the gentle and sweet introduction of the sonata, director Daniel Taylor leads us with his singular and wondrous technique - with his soft, warm and deeply moving voice - through the painful expression of devotion found in the Vivaldi Stabat Mater and the remarkable Salve Regina. Emma Kirkby joins Daniel in pure emotional harmony and the listener can only marvel at this degree of interpretation - recommended !”

Daniel Taylor - The Voice of Bach - Now available directly from the TEM Office

Followers of Daniel Taylor and The Theatre Of Early Music are encouraged to order their Voice of Bach CDs directly from the Office of The Theatre Of Early Music. CDs prices are: Canada $20 / USA - Cdn$22 / elsewhere - Cdn$25 (shipping included)
Please note these CDs will be available at all our Canadian TEM Concert Venues.
Purchase 5 Discs And Receive A 6th Cd Free

RCA RED SEAL 88697290312 October 2008

Daniel Taylor - The Voice of Bach J S Bach: Juno Award Nomination 2009 Billboard Soundscan Top Ten 5 Star BBC Music Magazine Title Gramophone Featured Choice BBC 10 Out Of 10 Classical Music Magazine Recommended Agnes Zsigovics, soprano Daniel Taylor, countertenor The Choir & Orchestra of The Theatre of early Music Daniel Taylor, Director Extract:  Track ‘O Jesu Christ meines Lebens Licht’ Extract:  Track 7 ‘Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn’

We are now offering you the opportunity to Purchase this SONY Classical CD On Line

Destination (shipping included)

Canada $20.00 USA $22.00 International $25.00

• PayPal will email you confirming your purchase and we will mail your CD within 4-5 days, by air mail.
• Inside the Paypal screen you may send us instructions to have this CD mailed as a gift to any address.

Music meets theatre as Stratford vets join concert to celebrate Henry Purcell's 350th birthday

Steven Mazey, The Ottawa Citizen
May 14, 2009

It’s a 350th birthday concert for composer Henry Purcell that will bring together some of Canada’s leading singers, an acclaimed baroque ensemble, two of the country’s best-known actresses and a few words from William Shakespeare.

In two performances Sunday at Dominion Chalmers Church as part of the Canadian Tulip Festival, Ottawa countertenor Daniel Taylor will be the conductor and one of the performers for a Purcell concert he put together at the invitation of festival director Julian Armour.

The concert’s first half will include selections of Purcell’s sacred music, followed in the second half by a concert performance of Dido and Aeneas, the opera that tells the tragic love story of Dido, Queen of Carthage, and Aeneas, Prince of Troy.

Taylor will be one of the soloists and will conduct the choir and orchestra of the Theatre of Early Music, the Montreal-based ensemble he founded in 2001.

Music and theatre will meet in the form of Shakespeare monologues, performed by actresses who have starred regularly at the Stratford Festival and theatres across Canada: Martha Henry and Diane D’Aquila .

Taylor invited each actress to choose pieces to suit the reflective music of the concert’s first half and the opera’s stormy love story in the second half of the concert.

“I told them, ’Here are the moods I’m looking for, and I want you to do it in the voice that best suits you,’” Taylor said recently.

“I think this kind of thing can make it more interesting for an audience. It turns on different senses than when you just hear music on its own, and it can be very exciting.”

In choosing the pieces for the Purcell concert, he says, “I wanted to include the sacred music but also music from the theatrical side. This opera is so well known and loved, and it’s one of Purcell’s greatest pieces. There’s a mix of beautiful arias and a very beautiful chorus at the end, and I really enjoy the dramatic structure, the fact that it changes so many moods.”

Though based in Montreal, Taylor and the ensemble have performed regularly in Ottawa. Their performance was one of the highlights of last year’s Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, and a Christmas concert by Taylor and the ensemble at Notre Dame Basilica attracted a capacity crowd and raves from listeners.

In their years together, Taylor and the musicians and singers have developed a close chemistry and they produce a spine-tingling beauty of sound. He and the group received a Juno nomination and enthusiastic reviews for The Voice of Bach, their first recording for the Sony-BMG Masterworks label as part of a multi-disc deal Taylor signed with the label.

“It was a bit of choreography bringing together all these people, but we’ve got a really good team,” says Taylor. He has worked regularly with the singers he’s brought together for Dido, and he says they’re ideal for the roles.

Montreal soprano Suzie LeBlanc, who is singing the role of Dido, has become a star singer on the Canadian and international early-music music scene. She recently sang in a performance of St. Matthew Passion at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Taylor has also worked often with Dobson.

“There is something special about Suzie’s singing. She is immediately touching as a performer. Alex has one of the most beautiful young baritone voices in Canada right now, and a very dramatic presence. There’s a wonderful chemistry between the two of them.”

Taylor sings the role of the sorceress, a role he has sung often, including a performance at London’s Wigmore Hall with the Gabrieli Consort.

“She’s a great villain, and a lot of fun to play, because there is nothing redeeming about the character.”

In Dido, which lasts about an hour in performance, Taylor’s role involves about six minutes of singing, and he says it isn’t particularly difficult to sing his brief role and also lead the performance.

“Singing is what I do, and I’m comfortable with that. The conducting is challenging, but it’s also been giving me a tremendous amount of joy. If I could, I would always do it this way, where I would sing a bit and conduct as well,” he says.

”That’s definitely the way I’m building my career, and where I would like to see it go.”

 Top