For other information on the TEM Artistic Director
Please link to Daniel Taylor’s Personal Website : www.danieltaylorsworld.com

2019 Biography :
Daniel Taylor, Countertenor and Conductor
founder and artistic director of TEM

"The Beauty of his voice will stop you in your tracks..."
Gramophone

"His star is rising as fast as the speed of sound....Daniel Taylor, a new Conductor on the scene breathing new life into magnificent yet neglected choral masterpieces. "
Globe and Mail

Daniel Taylor is one of the most sought-after countertenors in the world. Recognition of Daniel’s work can be seen in the Gramophone, Grammy, Juno, Opus, CBC-SRC and Adisq Awards. He was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Medal for service to music. Daniel appears on more than 120 recordings which include Bach Cantatas with the Monteverdi Choir dir. Gardiner for Deutsche Grammophone Archiv and SDG; Renaissance duets with James Bowman and Michael Chance, Actors Ralph Fiennes and Jeremy Irons; Handel’s Rinaldo with Cecilia Bartoli and AAM dir. Hogwood for Decca; Before Bach with Collegium Vocale dir. Herreweghe for Harmonia Mundi; Sakamoto’s pop-opera Life for Sony; Bach Cantatas with Bach Collegium Japan dir. Suzuki for BIS; Vivaldi’s Stabat Mater for BIS; five recordings of Handel’s Messiah, including those with the Montreal Symphony dir Nagano for Universal, Kammerchor Stuttgart dir. Bernius for Carus, with the Handel & Haydn Society for Coro, with the American Bach Soloists dir. Thomas for Koch and a CD/DVD with Tafelmusik for Bravo Television. Daniel has recorded the CD/DVD of Bach’s B minor Mass with the Ensemble Orchestral Paris dir. Nelson for EMI Virgin and also with the Kammerchor Stuttgart dir. Bernius for Carus. Recently, Daniel’s recording of Angelheart with cellist Matt Haimovitz, mezzo Frederica Von Stade and Actor Jeremy Irons with Producer David Foster won a Grammy.

"He is part angel, part man."
The Guardian, UK

Daniel’s extraordinary series of recordings for SONY include The Voice of Bach and Come Again Sweet Love as well as his award-winning choral recordings with ensemble he founded and conducts, The Trinity Choir: Four Thousand Winter, The Tree of Life and The Path to Paradise.

"Tonight felt like a kind of affirmation of permanence in the face of change and disorder in the world. St Paul’s Basilica at Queen & Power was packed with eager listeners, attracted no doubt by The Tallis Scholars’ wonderful discography, but also perhaps aware of the new kids in town, Taylor’s two ensembles that shared the program and are now also recording for SONY"
Toronto Star

Daniel’s professional operatic debut was at the Glyndebourne Festival followed by his North American operatic debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera. He continued to the Rome Opera, Welsh National Opera, Canadian Opera, Opera North, in Munich and at the Edinburgh Festival. He has joined leading orchestras including San Francisco, Los Angeles, London, Lisbon, Cleveland, National Arts Centre, Toronto, New York Philharmonic, Gothenburg and Scottish National, as well as the Dallas Symphony and the Israel Philharmonic. Daniel receives invitations from an ever-widening circle of the world’s leading early and contemporary music ensembles, appearing in opera (Metropolitan Opera, Glyndebourne, San Francisco, Rome, Welsh National Opera, Canadian Opera, Opera North, Montreal Opera and Munich); oratorio (Gabrieli Consort, Monteverdi Choir/English Baroque Soloists, Bach Collegium Japan, Les Arts Florissants, Berlin Akademie fur Alte Musik, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, King’s Consort); symphonic works (Cleveland, St. Louis, Lisbon, Philadelphia, Tonhalle Zurich, Toronto, Gothenburg, Rotterdam, Montreal); recital (Vienna Konzerthaus, Frick Collection, New York, Forbidden Concert Hall and Carnegie).

"Under the direction of Daniel Taylor, Dido and Aeneas was a miracle. "
La Presse

With the Monteverdi Choir and Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Daniel appeared on the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage joining in concerts and recordings across Europe and North America. With the English Baroque Soloists and Gardiner, he appeared in Handel’s Israel in Egypt at the BBC Proms, returning to the BBC Proms in recital with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. His long association with the Director Jonathan Miller included Handel’s Rodelinda (recorded for EMI Virgin) and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. Daniel appeared on two soundtracks for Cirque de Soleil: TORUK - The Story of Avatar (on which he sings the role of the Avatar) and TOTEM for Universal. Engagements also include Handel’s Rinaldo at the Teatro Colon Buenos Aires, the World Premiere of Robert Lepage’s production of Ades’ The Tempest and recitals at Lincoln Centre, Barcelona’s Palau de la Musica, Forbidden City Concert Hall Beijing, Vienna’s Konzerthaus, Frick Collection and Wigmore Hall.

Highlights of past engagements include Handel’s Messiah with San Francisco Symphony, Handel’s Rinaldo with the Academy of Ancient Music, Handel’s Israel in Egypt with the Cleveland Orchestra, Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Toronto Symphony, Messiah with the St. Louis Symphony, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the National Arts Centre, Handel’s Rinaldo at the Munich Opera House, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Handel’s Saul with Bachakademie Stuttgart (for Hänssler Classics); Buxtehude Cantatas with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra (Channel Classics); Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Taiwan National Symphony(Koch) and Schnittke’s Faust Cantata with the Rotterdam Philharmonic/Gergiev.

Most recently, Daniel’s appearances have taken him to Europe, across North America and to South America. He made his European Stage Directing debut with Puccini’s Suor Angelica with the Amalfi Coast Opera in Italy. In concert, he joined the Houston and Cincinnati Symphonies, the Toronto Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, records and tours with the Kammerchor Stuttgart, appearing at London’s St. John Smith Square (UK), making his conducting debut with the Newfoundland Symphony, Musica Angelica Los Angeles and returning to conduct the Schola Cantorum in Handel’s Messiah and Mozart’s Requiem as well as choral programs with the Gabrieli Consort and The Tallis Scholars.

"Those of us who first heard Daniel Taylor in Jonathan Miller’s staging of Handel’s Rodelinda immediately recognized that we were hearing a significant countertenor with a great future, but we didn’t realize that this inspirational singer would develop into a fine conductor. "
The Guardian, UK

Daniel has appeared in concert with leading artists such as Nancy Argenta, John Mark Ainsley, Stephanie Blythe, Benjamin Butterfield, Sarah Connelly, Charles Daniels, Karina Gauvin, Peter Harvey, Ben Heppner, Dominique Labelle, Suzie Leblanc, Julia Lezhneva, Daniel Lichti, Sylvia McNair, John Releya, Carolyn Sampson, Catherine Wyn-Rogers and the late Christopher Hogwood and Anthony Rolfe-Johnson. Daniel has appeared on German television for the Prime Minister of Germany, on Spanish television for the Queen of Spain and in a recital for the King and Queen of Sweden and at a First Nations pow-wow. Daniel sang at the Induction Ceremony of the Governor General of Canada, Madame Julie Payette, at the Canadian Senate on Parliament at the request of the Prime Minister of Canada, live on Canadian national radio and television. With the Governor General, Daniel Taylor joined a delegation on a trade, education, health and culture mission in West Africa where Daniel sang at the request of the Presidents of Burkina Faso, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast.

"The superstar countertenor of our time and Canada’s most prolific classical recording artist. "
CBC Radio

Daniel is a Visiting Faculty Member of the Siena Liberal Arts University (Italy), Victoria Conservatory of Music in British Columbia (Canada) and Amalfi Opera (Italy). He has given guest masterclasses across Canada and the United States and at the Royal Academy of Music (UK), Sao Paolo University (Argentina), Beijing Conservatory (China), Royal College of Music (UK), Oberlin Conservatory (Ohio), Bloomington University (Indiana), University of Vienna (Austria) and Guildhall School of Music (UK).

Daniel is Artistic Director and Conductor of the Choir and Orchestra of the Theatre of Early Music. The Theatre of Early Music performs more than 30 concerts every year in concert halls all over the world.

Daniel Taylor is Associate Professor of Voice and Opera and Head of the Historical Performance Area at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. He leads the growing Historical Performance Area with graduate and post-graduate level programs. Daniel also maintains a private studio of students from all over the world. His scholarship and teaching includes exploring the relationship between performance and well-being leading to the building of healthy and sustainable technique. Daniel’s students appear on the stages of orchestras and opera houses across Europe, Asia, North and South America. He is praised for his clarity in instruction, his deep dedication to his students and his "shepherding of the elite voices of today. " (Wholenote Magazine)

In Daniel’s words: "The search for the meaning of spirituality in this life is the foundation - the cornerstone - on which artistic expression is built. The world needs young artists. Studying singing requires reference points that are in the here and now. In our work together, we are taken profoundly into the heart of the song, finding the joy and understanding the sorrow. This is a transformative experience that we share as we find the balance that allows authentic artistry and voice to live within and beyond the architecture. Understanding the mechanics is key and from there we really do have to move on - we develop our foundation, we look with a keen eye at the first stages of career development, we explore and serve the score and with the text, we discover our freedom. "

 

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