With a repertoire ranging from the Renaissance to the 21st century, tenor James Taylor devotes much of his career to the oratorio and concert literature. One of the most sought-after Bach Evangelists, Mr. Taylor has performed the role for his debut with the New York Philharmonic, throughout the United States, in South America, Japan, Israel, and in the great concert halls of Europe including Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Vienna’s Musikverein, and the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Highlights of 2009/10 include the Berlioz Requiem with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, Handel’s Messiah with the New York Philharmonic, and the Mozart Requiem with Hans Graf and the Houston Symphony.
In Europe, Mr. Taylor sings Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in Leipzig, Berlin, Stuttgart, and Essen with Helmuth Rilling; Mendelssohn’s Paulus with Masaaki Suzuki in Utrecht and with Helmuth Rilling and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi; and Emilio in Mozart’s Il sogno di Scipione with Harnocourt and Concentus musicus in Vienna.
In the summer of 2009, Mr. Taylor sang Haydn’s Stabat Mater with Les Violons du Roy in Quebec City and Montreal, and joined Helmuth Rilling for returns to the Oregon Bach Festival, the Internationale Bachakademie in Stuttgart, and at the Rheingau Music Festival.
Highlights of Mr. Taylor’s 2008/09 season included performances of Haydn’s The Creation with the National Symphony and Helmuth Rilling, the Britten War Requiem with Bramwell Tovey and the Vancouver Symphony, and Haydn’s Stabat Mater with Bernard Labadie and Les Violins du Roy in Quebec and Montreal. International performances included Bach’s Mass in B Minor in Bamberg with Sir Roger Norrington; Haydn’s Orlando Paladino with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Berlin Philharmonic; Handel’s Messiah with the State Orchestra of Brazil conducted by John Neshling, and with the Israel Philharmonic and Helmuth Rilling, et al.
Mr. Taylor sang an acclaimed Evangelist in the St. Matthew Passion with Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic, and Elijah with Mo. Rilling and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. He also made a return to the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra for Britten’s Serenade for Tenor and Horn. Other recent North American engagements include Handel’s Messiah with the University Musical Society in Ann Arbor and with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra; Bach’s Mass in B Minor with the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Los Angeles Chorale at Walt Disney Hall; a debut in Carnegie Hall in the world premiere of the Levine completion of Mozart’s Mass in C Minor; Mozart's Requiem with the Detroit Symphony and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; and performances of Franz Schmidt's The Book of the Seven Seals andHaydn’s The Creation with the Cleveland Orchestra. Recent European engagements include the Bach Mass in B Minor with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin; a tour of Handel’s Solomon and Messiah with the RIAS Kammerchor in France and Portugal; a tour of the Britten War Requiem with Helmuth Rilling, appearing at the Rheingau Musikfestival, in Stuttgart, Leverkusen, and in Bonn at the Beethovenfest; and Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Gewandhaus Orchestra and Herbert Blomstedt in Leipzig which was recorded for commercial release.
A native of Houston, James Taylor attended Texas Christian University as a student of Arden Hopkin. A Fulbright Scholar, he studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich where he graduated in 1993 with a "Meisterklassendiplom." In May of 2005 The Yale Institute of Sacred Music and Yale School of Music announced the appointment of James Taylor in the Program in Early Music, Song, and Chamber Ensemble, as Associate Professor of Voice.
James Taylor can be heard on over 30 recordings. For Hänssler he has recorded Dvorak's Stabat Mater, Bach's Christmas Oratorio, Magnificat, St. John Passion; and Handel’s Messiah, also with Helmuth Rilling. On the Harmonia Mundi label he has recorded Bach’s Easter Oratorio, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and Mendelssohn's Paulus under Philippe Herreweghe. New releases include Britten’s War Requiem with Helmuth Rilling for Hänssler; the Mozart Requiem with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra led by Andreas Delfs on Limestone Records; Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Nashville Symphony on the Naxos label; and the rarely heard Baroque opera Ariadne by Johan Georg Conradi with the Boston Early Music Festival led by Paul O’Dette on ArkivMusik.
