Daniel Taylor
Associate Professor, Voice
Schola Cantorum
Education
- Advanced Studies, Royal Academy of Music
- MMus, Université de Montréal
- LMus, McGill University
Biography
“Beauty of his voice will stop you in your tracks…”
GRAMOPHONE
“An unwavering spirit carried aloft above the tumult of earthly existence”
TORONTO STAR
"The beloved singer, leading figure in the field of Opera, Voice and Early Music and perhaps Canada's most popular voice teacher."
BROADWAY.COM
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. General Director and Artistic Director of the Toronto Consort, he 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 appears on more than 120 recordings on the world's leading labels.
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. His scholarship and teaching explore the relationship between performance and well-being leading to the building of healthy and sustainable technique. The first recipient of the National Medal for Music, he is a Senior Fellow at Massey College and was awarded the Queen’s Medal. Recently named as an Officer of the Order of Canada, Taylor joins an esteemed list of trailblazers named over the past 50 years in politics and science including the Nobel prize laureate John Polanyi, author Margaret Atwood, sports icon Terry Fox, artists Joni Mitchell, and Celine Dion.
Daniel’s professional operatic debut was at the Glyndebourne Festival followed by his North American operatic debut at the Metropolitan Opera. He continued to the Rome Opera, Welsh National, Canadian Opera, Opera North, in Munich and at the Edinburgh Festival, joining the San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles, London, Lisbon, Cleveland, Toronto, Montreal, New York Philharmonic, Gothenburg and Scottish National, the Dallas Symphony and the Israel Philharmonic.
With the Monteverdi Choir on the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, he joined in concerts and recordings across Europe and North America. With the English Baroque Soloists, 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 – 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, Carnegie, Wigmore Hall and the Forbidden City Concert Hall Beijing.
Recently, he made his conducting debuts with Voces8, Musica Angelica Los Angeles, with the Newfoundland Symphony, with the Kammerchor Stuttgart, the Gabrieli Consort and as the first guest conductor in the history of The Tallis Scholars.
Daniel has appeared at the request of Prime Ministers of Canada, Presidents of the United States, of the Prime Minister of Germany, on Spanish television for the Queen of Spain, in a recital for the King and Queen of Sweden and for the Queen of England. He has appeared on 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.
As an educator, Daniel has offered master classes at the Beijing Conservatory, the Sao Paolo Conservatory, at the Royal Academy, the Guildhall and the Royal College of Music and across North America. In January 2024, Daniel Taylor became the first musician in Canadian 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 Social Democracy.