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Welcome to Daniel Taylor's WorldDaniel is Artistic Director and Conductor of the Choir and Orchestra of the Theatre of Early Music. "It’s an almost indescribable feeling, and I find it amazingly satisfying.
I find it remarkable that I can have 20 choristers all wanting to be there to make beautiful music.
I feel like a bit of a magician. I wave my hands and these sounds appear.
It’s an extension of what I would like to say and what I feel the music is saying, and I feel we are all
calling out together. There is a sense of awe and wonder in discovering this music together. As we have revealed the frescoes of Michelangelo, so do we hope now to reveal that art that is hidden beyond the distractions of this world. Music speaks to us and to our humanity, it is what unites us. " |
News and Events - Last update: May 1st 2012Sony Classical Masterworks has signed Daniel Taylor as an Exclusive Recording Artist.....Read more IMG Artists to represent Daniel Taylor and the TEM for select touring projects..... Read more The University of Toronto appoints Daniel Taylor as a Visiting Artist Daniel was recently named Artistic Director of the festival, Quebec International of Sacred Music.......Read more "Daniel Taylor and Deborah York Perform Handel to Perfection" - Carnegie Hall Nov 2011......Read some reviews |
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Sony Classical Masterworks Announces the signing of Daniel Taylor as an Exclusive Recording Artist.
Sony Classical Masterworks, one of the largest major recording companies in the world,
represents the finest musicians in the world including Yo-Yo Ma, Andrea Bocelli and Joshua Bell.
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IMG Artists is the global leader in the arts management business, combining the highest standards of management with an incomparable range of services to its customers and clients alike. With offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Hanover, Lucca and Singapore, IMG Artists delivers an international suite of capabilities including the management and touring of the finest musicians, dance companies, orchestras, and attractions, as well as consulting and advisory work for sovereign clients, arts institutions, concert halls, and culturally engaged corporations. IMG Artists will continue to seek out distinctive partnerships and craft collaborative initiatives in the years to come. |
IMG Artists Europe and Asia:
IMG Artists, the global leader in the artist management business, is pleased to announce the signing of Daniel Taylor
and the Choir and Orchestra of the Theatre of Early Music. With an unparalleled degree of artistic and managerial talent,
IMG is committed to breaking new ground in the ever-evolving world of the performing arts. IMG Artists and Daniel Taylor
look forward to beginning their future touring collaborations. Daniel Taylor comments “I am honoured to have the
opportunity to work with this brilliant management team which will compliment our work with local agents in South America,
Canada and in France.”
Daniel's words when named artistic director of the Québec International of Sacred Music, Sept 2011
It was almost 15 years ago that I first stood on the stage of this beautiful Basilica (l'église Saint-Roch)- the audience and I wondered at music resounding in this remarkable acoustic.
There was something special that night - almost indescribable - as if for a moment ‘time stood still’. We search for this in our daily lives - regardless of religion, regardless of profession, of background or language - we look for the moments when the "noise of the world" is quieted.
The festival offers us such moments in their remarkable evenings : a wonderful hiatus where we come together in thanks and in communion.
As we have revealed the frescoes of Michelangelo, so do we hope now to reveal that art that is hidden beyond the distractions of this world. Music speaks to us and to our humanity - it is what unites us.
This festival holds a very special place in my heart and I am honoured to accept this new role as Artistic Director. Quebec deserves moments of authenticity and celebration -
when concerts are not 'business as usual', when the flame of passion joins the search of the sacred.
We find ourselves at a vital moment in this Festival's history. It is our hope that every concert that takes place - every note that is played -
comes to life and touches every one. I thank you for this chance to bring change to this glorious city and to bring new life to this wonderful festival.
After being named the festival’s artistic director, Daniel Taylor stood up and sang, unaccompanied, to the pure delight of the music enthusiasts in attendance.
The New York Times : Embracing Handel’s Leaping Arias and Duets
Weill Recital Hall
Carnegie Hall
New York
November 15, 2011
Theatre of Early Music players:
Cynthia Roberts, violin
Edwin Huizinga, violin
David Miller, viola
Amanda Keesmaat, cello
Reuven Rothman, bass
Eric Milnes, harpsichord
David Jacques, baroque guitar
The Theater of Early Music, a Canadian period-instrument and vocal ensemble led by Daniel Taylor, the countertenor, expands and contracts
to suit the project at hand. Mr. Taylor brought a compact version to Weill Recital Hall for a Handel program on Tuesday,
and though he was listed in the program book as both countertenor and conductor, there was no conducting to be done.
When the instrumentalists had the spotlight -in trim, zesty accounts of a passacaglia (from HWV 432) and the
"Giulio Cesare" Overture - Mr. Taylor left them to it.
The evening was mostly devoted to arias and duets from Rinaldo, Tolomeo, Giulio Cesare and Rodelinda, in which
Mr. Taylor split the spotlight with the soprano Deborah York. They were well matched. In the ebullient Scherzano sul
tuo volto (I look in your beloved eyes) from Rinaldo, Ms. York’s bright, tightly focused timbre perfectly complemented
Mr. Taylor’s velvety tone, and when Ms. York darkened her sound in the mournful duet Io t’abbraccio (I embrace you)
from Rodelinda, the blend was just about perfect.
On her own, Ms. York was at her best in Bel piacere (It is a great pleasure) and Lascia ch’io pianga (Let me weep),
both also from Rinaldo. In Bel piacere, Handel demands an athletic series of barely prepared leaps, which Ms.
York handled so gracefully that she made her ornamentation of the top notes sound natural and comfortable if not
necessarily easy. In Lascia ch’io pianga, one of several tragic arias that gave the program its emotional richness,
she sang with a wrenching dynamic suppleness.
Mr. Taylor matched that quality in several pieces, most notably the lustrous Dove sei (Where are you)
from Rodelinda, where his tone was at its most fully burnished........
By Allan Kozinn, Published in NY Times on November 16, 2011
Photo credit: Karsten Moran for The New York Times
Everything about Tuesday evening’s concert by The Theatre of Early Music at Carnegie Hall was intimate..
....the performance in Weill Recital Hall gave modern audiences a glimpse into how Handel’s audiences would have consumed this music in coffee houses,
concert halls, and in the home. The one-on-a-part ensemble may have left some in the audience yearning to hear a larger group of players to realize Handel’s sumptuous string parts.
However, the balance between the players and singers was perfectly suited to the size of the sold-out Weill Recital Hall, and created a robust
continuo - which contained more than half of the players!
Arias from three of Handel’s most popular operas in modern revival, Giulio Cesare, Rinaldo, and Rodelinda were featured in
the program. But the true gem of the evening was the aria Se il cor ti perde from Tolomeo sung by Daniel Taylor (countertenor).
The opera itself was little known even amongst the most experienced Handelians in the audience. For this piece, Taylor gave a
charming introduction and explained some of his artistic choices. This helped add to the intimacy of the evening....
In the aria, he mixed his falsetto and baritone wonderfully for dramatic effect, and literally let his hair down in order to match
the affekt of the crazed aria. His cadenzas were bombastic, chilling, and downright ferocious. One could really hear and see the rage
of the character Tolomeo, who in the aria threatens his sister Cleopatra.
...Taylor and his colleague Deborah York gave fresh interpretations to these old favorites. Taylor’s delivery of Cara sposa from Rinaldo was
particularly wonderful, and his entrance on the B natural held for more than four full beats was exquisite. A similar effect is written
into the aria Dove sei from Rodelinda, and Taylor let his audience relish in his gentle messa di voce, beginning softly
and then slowly swelling both in volume and vibrato. In all of his arias, Taylor showed remarkable restraint in his use of vocal embellishments and cadenzas.
The result made his choices to alter the music in da capo repeats highly noticeable and effective.
Deborah York’s most stunning aria, perhaps, was Cleopatra’s Tu la mia stella sei from Giulio Cesare. Her da capo ornaments,
more so than in her other arias, were subtly chosen and highlighted her vocal agility. The gorgeous and expansive Se pietá,
another aria for Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare received thunderous applause from the audience.
True to the ensemble’s name, Theatre of Early Music, all of the music was presented in a theatrical manner,....Taylor, for example, never
stood in the center of the stage during introductory ritornelli. For all of his arias, he made a dramatic entrance from stage left.
Often, he even began singing facing away from the audience, singing to the players......
The style of dramatic presentation also contributed to its authenticity.
Submitted by Stephen Raskauskas on 17th November 2011
http://www.bachtrack.com/review-handel-theatre-early-music-daniel-taylor-deborah-york
Daniel Taylor and Deborah York Perform Handel to Perfection
.....all the listener heard was glorious singing, supported by a committed group of instrumentalists. Cynthia Roberts was superb in the role of first violinist,
playing with flare and with an awesome technique. The other instrumentalists were also right on with every note,
including David Jacques who played the Baroque guitar.
Cara Sposa, the best known piece on this program, was touchingly sung by Mr. Taylor.
He has an angelic demeanour which well suits songs of lamentation, and he performed this one effortlessly. Se il cor ti perde, a duet from
Handel’s Tolemeo, is very similar in style to Schezano sul tuo volo. both duets weave the voices in, out and around each other:
the harmonizing is ethereal and almost other-worldly.
The second half of the program opened with the overture to Giulio Cesare, Ms. Roberts and her group put so much spirit into their performance that it
seemed as if a full orchestra was on stage. Tu la mia stella sei followed, a difficult aria that York tossed off with ease, reaching up
to the highest vocal register without undue strain or thinning out.
The group returned to Rodelinda and a more familiar aria performed by Daniel Taylor, Dove sei, a lament made poignantly touching by
Taylor’s attention to each word and meaningful but not overly-emotional gestures. This led into a wonderful and difficult aria,
Se pieta di me non senti from Giulio Cesare. Built on a chromatically descending triplet played repeatedly through the entire piece,
with Ms. York’s impassioned voice doubled or echoed by the strings, this was certainly the most moving aria in the concert, and the
considerable applause that followed was appropriately long.
Taylor then took the stage and graciously thanked the New York audience for giving him the opportunity to play in Carnegie Hall.
It was thrilling to him, but even more so to his mother, who was in the audience. He stated that his natural voice was that of a baritone and
that he was able to use this range in this next aria, Domero la tua fierezza. Loosening his ponytail as he took on the role of the mad Tolomeo,
he tackled this wild aria with all its jumping notes and wide intervals. If there was any question whether this angelic countertenor could belt out
dramatic arias, it was answered here. His exaggerated gestures and emphatic holding of the low notes was tremendous fun after so many rueful songs.
Taylor dedicated the final duet from Rodelinda, Io t’abbraccio, to a deceased friend. Appreciative applause continued until the ensemble
returned to do an encore of their first duet Scherzano sul tuo volto.
Stan Metzger
http://www.seenandheard-international.com/2011/11/18/daniel-taylor-and-deborah-york-perform-handel-to-perfection/
Credit for photo : Nan Melville (C) 2011
And from Milwaukee:
Group’s Reading of Handel is all Pro
Taylor and York form a wonderfully complementary duo ..
York sings with a focused, pure sound, making sparing but effective use of vibrato and executing perfectly timed ornaments
with absolute grace. She brings great musical depth and a tremendous range of colors and dynamics to her musical interpretations,
creating a subtle sense of drama in the process. Her soulful, pristine deliveries of arias such as Lascia ch'io pianga from Rinaldo
on Saturday’s program were exquisite.
Taylor has a bigger, more dramatic sound than York, which is remarkably warm and relaxed for a countertenor.
He uses vibrato liberally and is not afraid to color outside the lines of a perfectly refined sound from time to time for musical effect....
Those differing sounds and styles combine to create musical magic in duets. The two singers work together with a
remarkable musical intimacy based on a combination of great musical instincts and the ability to listen and respond to each other.
They give their duets the feel of extremely personal conversations.
By Elaine Schmidt, Special to the Journal Sentinel, Nov. 20, 2011
Early Music Now: Handel, master of opera
Countertenor Daniel Taylor, who sang from Handel operas Saturday on an Early Music Now program, is the best (countertenors)
I’ve ever heard. His voice is big, beautiful, rich and agile. He guides it with unerring feel for the sentiments of the words and
the direction of the phrase. He ornaments brilliantly and with a historian’s sense of style. ...
They sang and played selections from Rinaldo, Giulio Cesare and Rodelinda, ...The singers and players understood
and fully realized them....
This music is also extravagantly virtuosic for the singers. Both York and Taylor negotiated fleet scales and arpeggios with
ease and applied the most astonishing ornaments when Handel instructs them to repeat a section.....
Taylor took ornamentation a step further in Domero, from Giulio Cesare. He dropped out of countertenor guise
and into his natural baritone for certain words, to startling effect. A couple of critics have taken him to task for the
inauthenticity of such a stunt. They have a point, as this would not have occurred in Handel’s time - castrati don’t develop baritone ranges.
But this music is first about amazing voices doing amazing things. In spirit, Taylor adhered to Rule No. 1 of late Baroque opera performance
practice: If you’ve got it, baby, flaunt it! ....
... A near-capacity crowd applauded the Theatre of Early Music with gusto....
Tom Strini, November 19th, 2011