DANIEL TAYLOR

“Beauty of his voice will stop you in your tracks…”
GRAMOPHONE

“An unwavering spirit carried aloft above the tumult of earthly existence”
TORONTO STAR

Daniel Taylor is a Sony Classical recording artist, Artistic Director and Conductor of the Trinity Choir as well as the Choir and Orchestra of the Theatre of Early Music. Daniel is one of the most sought-after countertenors in the world. Recognition of Daniel’s work can be seen in the Grammy, Gramophone, Juno, Opus, CBC-SRC, BBC and Adisq Awards.

Daniel Taylor is Professor of Opera, Voice and Early Music and Director of the Historical Performance Area at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. The first recipient of the National Medal for Music, he is a Senior Fellow at Massey College and was awarded the Queen’s Jubilee Medal. Recently named as an Officer of the Order of Canada, Taylor joins an esteemed list of leaders named over the past 50 years in politics and science including the Nobel prize laureate John Polanyi, author Margaret Atwood, sports icons Wayne Gretzky and Terry Fox, as well as musicians Joni Mitchell, Oscar Peterson and Celine Dion.

Daniel appears on more than 120 recordings which include Bach Cantatas with the Monteverdi Choir dir. Sir John Eliot Gardiner (Deutsche Grammophone Archiv and SDG); Renaissance duets with James Bowman and Michael Chance, Hollywood Actors Ralph Fiennes and Jeremy Irons (BIS) and with the late Martha Henry; Handel’s Rinaldo with Cecilia Bartoli, Gerald Finley and AAM dir. Christopher Hogwood (DECCA); Before Bach with Collegium Vocale dir. Phillipe Herreweghe (Harmonia Mundi); Bach’s setting of the Pergolesi Stabat Mater with Dame Emma Kirkby (BIS); Sakamoto’s pop-opera Life (SONY) in a cast that included Salman Rushdie and the Dahli Lama; Bach Cantatas with Bach Collegium Japan for Masaaki Suzuki (BIS); Vivaldi Gloria with the Bethlehem Bach Choir/Greg Fumfgeld (Analekta); five recordings of Handel’s Messiah, including those with the Montreal Symphony/Kent Nagano (Universal), Kammerchor Stuttgart/ Frieder Bernius (Carus), with the Handel & Haydn Society/Harry Christophers (Coro), with the American Bach Soloists/Jeffrey Thomas (Koch )and a CD/DVD with Tafelmusik/Ivars Taurins (Bravo Television). Daniel has recorded the CD/DVD of Bach’s B minor Mass with the Ensemble Orchestral Paris/John Nelson (EMI Virgin) and also with the Kammerchor Stuttgart /Frieder Bernius (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, Montreal, New York Philharmonic, Gothenburg and Scottish National, as well as the Dallas Symphony and the Israel  Philharmonic.

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/Gardiner, he appeared in Handel’s Israel in Egypt at the BBC Proms, returning to the BBC Proms with the Bethlehem Bach Choir and 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 appears 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 Gluck’s Orfeo and 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, at Carnegie, Wigmore Hall and the Forbidden City Concert Hall Beijing.

Highlights of past engagements include Handel’s Messiah with San Francisco Symphony, Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Toronto Symphony, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the National Arts Centre, 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/Valery Gergiev. Recently, 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 and the Toronto Symphony, making his conducting debut with Musica Angelica Los Angeles, with the Newfoundland Symphony, with the Kammerhcor Stuttgart, the Gabrieli Consort and as the first guest conductor in the history of 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 at the request of Prime Ministers of Canada, Presidents of the United States, on German television for the Prime Minister of Germany, on Spanish television for the Queen of Spain, in a recital for the King and Queen of Sweden, for the Queen of England and at a first nations pow-wow. He has appeared on Canadian television and radio in live events on many occasions for estimated audiences of more than 5 million listeners. With a Canadian delegation, Daniel travelled on a trade, education, health and culture mission across Africa.

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

Daniel is a Visiting Faculty of the Siena Liberal Arts University (Italy), Victoria Conservatory of Music in British Columbia (Canada), the Paris Academy (France), the Amalfi Opera (Italy) and the Oberlin Conservatory (United States). 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), Bloomington University (Indiana), University of Vienna (Austria) and at the Guildhall School of Music (UK).

“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 leads the growing Historical Performance Area at the University of Toronto with graduate and post-graduate level programs. His scholarship and teaching includes exploring the relationship between performance and well-being leading to the building of healthy and sustainable technique.

In January 2024, Daniel Taylor became the first musician in history to both sing and lead the orchestra and choir in a State Funeral – the event was a tribute to the life of the Honourable Ed Broadbent and to Social Democracy.