Daniel Taylor, counter-tenor

An exclusive recording artist for Sony Classical Masterworks, Daniel Taylor is one of the most sought-after countertenors in the world.

Daniel appears on more than eighty recordings which include Bach Cantatas/Monteverdi Choir/Gardiner (for Deutsche Grammophone Archiv and SDG); Renaissance duets with Bowman /Actor Ralph Fiennes/TEM (BIS); Handel’s Rinaldo with Bartoli /AAM/Hogwood (Decca); Cantatas "Before Bach" with Collegium Vocale /Herrewege (Harmonia Mundi); Sakamoto’s pop-opera "Life" with the Dalai Lama and Salman Rushdie (Sony); Bach Cantatas with Bach Collegium Japan (BIS); a Bach recital with the Theatre of Early Music (Sony); Vivaldi Gloria with the Bethlehem Bach Choir/Fumfgeld (Analekta); Vivaldi’s Stabat Mater (BIS); four recordings of Handel’s Messiah, these being with the Kammerchor Stuttgart (Carus), with the American Bach Soloists (Koch) and most recently a CD/DVD with Tafelmusik (Bravo Television) and a live recording with the New York Philharmonic. Daniel has recorded the CD/DVD of the Bach B minor Mass with the Ensemble Orchestrale Paris/Nelson (EMI Virgin) and also a CD with the Kammerchor Stuttgart/Bernius (Carus). Upcoming recordings include Handel’s Jephtha/McCreesh with the Gabrieli Consort for Deutsche Gramophone Archiv as well as a new recital disc for Sony Classical Masterworks.

Daniel’s debut at Glyndebourne in Handel’s Theodora (recorded for Erato) followed on his operatic debut in Jonathan Miller’s production of Handel’s Rodelinda (EMI). He took the title role in Gluck’s Orfeo at the Edinburgh Festival. His North American operatic debut was in Handel’s Cesare at the New York Metropolitan Opera.

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, Beijing, Lufthansa Baroque Festival and Wigmore Hall, London) and film (Podeswa’s Five Senses for Fineline - winner at Cannes and also of a Genie).

Daniel Taylor is recognized as "Canada’s star countertenor" and "Canada’s most prolific recording artist".

Highlights of past engagements include Handel’s Messiah with San Francisco Symphony/Christophers; Handel’s Rinaldo with the Academy of Ancient Music/Hogwood (with Bartoli for Decca); Handel’s Israel in Egypt with the Cleveland Orchestra/McGegan; Messiah with the St. Louis Symphony/Christophers; Orff's Carmina Burana with the Toronto Symphony/Oundjan; Bach Christmas Oratorio with the National Arts Centre/Pinnock; Handel’s Rinaldo at the Munich Opera/Bickett; Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms with the Philadelphia Orchestra/Dutoit; Handel’s Saul with Bachakademie Stuttgart/ Rilling (for Hänssler Classics); Buxtehude Cantatas with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra/Koopman (for Channel Classics); Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Taiwan National Symphony/Grossman (for Koch) and Schnittke’s Faust Cantata with the Rotterdam Philharmonic/Gergiev. Daniel also sang at a Pow-Wow of First Nations in Alberta and on Parliament Hill for Queen Elizabeth and the Prime Minister of Canada. He 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. With the Gabrieli Consort/McCreesh , Daniel toured Europe in Purcell’s Odes, appeared in recital on Polish Television and toured Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas; he also appeared in the Bach Christmas Oratorio with the Tonhalle Zurich Orchestra/McCreesh. With the Madrid National Orchestra/Goodwin, he sang in the Bach St. Matthew Passion on Spanish Television. With the Monteverdi Choir/Gardiner, Daniel appeared in Handel’s Israel in Egypt on British Television at the BBC Proms; returning to the BBC Proms in recital with the Berlin Akamus.

During 2009 Daniel made his debuts with the Israel Philharmonic, the Madrid National Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic. He returned to the St. Louis Orchestra, to Boston’s Handel & Haydn Society, to the Nashville, San Diego and San FranciscoSymphonies, to the Calgary Philharmonic, the Toronto Symphony and the Quebec Symphony. He toured Europe with the Academy of Ancient Music, appeared in recital at the Wigmore Hall and in concerts with the Gabrieli Consort and with the Bach Academy of Stuttgart. Daniel also made his solo recital debut in Barcelona at the Palau de la Musica. In March 2010 Daniel made his debut at New York’s Carnegie Hall with composer/conductor Thomas Ades.

In the 2010-2011 season Sony will release Daniel's next recital disc and he will record with the Bach Academy of Stuttgart/Rilling (for Hänssler), with the Montreal Symphony/Nagano (for Sony), with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra/Lamon (for Analekta) and with the Bethlehem Bach Choir/Fumfgeld (for Analekta). Daniel will also appear on the new soundtrack with the Cirque du Soleil and on a pop album with Jonathan Reilly-Roe. Messiah performances include Dallas Symphony/Rilling, Tafelmusik, the Montreal Symphony/Nagano and a return to the San Francisco Philharmonia Baroque/McGegan. Daniel returns to the St. Louis and Cleveland Orchestras and performs the Pergolesi Stabat Mater with both the National Arts Centre/McGegan and the Netherlands Bach Society/Cremonesi. Recital tours take him across Canada as well as to Europe and South America. Dame Emma Kirkby and Michael Chance will appear with Daniel and the Theatre of Early Music.

Daniel is Professor of Voice at the Conservatoire de musique in Montreal, Professor of Voice at the University of Ottawa, an Adjunct Professor at McGill University, a Visiting Scholar at the University of Victoria and Artist-in-Residence at Banff Centre for the Performing Arts. 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.