James Taylor

James Taylor

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 Evangelists (Bach’s St. Matthew Pasion), 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.

Recent appearances include Haydn’s Paukenmesse and Purcell’s “Behold I Bring You Glad Tidings” with Les Violons du Roy; Handel’s Messiah with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, with the Bach Collegium Japan, with the New York Philharmonic, and with the Israel Philharmonic and Helmuth Rilling; Mozart’s Requiem with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra, with Bernard Labadie and the Colorado Symphony, and with Hans Graf and the Houston Symphony; and Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Helmuth Rilling and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and with the Gewandhaus Orchestra and Herbert Blomstedt in Leipzig.  He has also performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, with Concentus Musicus Wien, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, and many others.

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.

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.

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April 2012 Program: Alexander’s Feast