Darryl Taylor

Darryl Taylor's performances have been noted for their compelling artistry and authority. His is an international career highlighted by performances of art song, opera and oratorio. His repertoire extends from Bach to Britten, and beyond.

Mr. Taylor has appeared with orchestras in the USA and in Europe. These include the Johann Strauss Sinfonietta of Vienna, the W.A. Mozart Philharmonic of Cluj, Romania, Camerata Mediterania of Barcelona, and the Aspen Music Festival (Young Artists Series), under the batons of conductors Conxita Garcia, Cristian Florea, Gert Meditz, Gustav Meier, Richard Rosenberg, James Vail, Rebecca Burkhardt, and Bruce Nehring. Among his operatic credits is the premier of the jazzopera by Nathan Davis, Just Above My Head, on the novel by James Baldwin (role of Jimmy), lead roles in operas by Mozart, Verdi, Handel, Britten, and Gershwin. Taylor's international itinerary includes some 19 tours of Spain, singing to enthusiastic, capacity audiences.

Recent performance highlights include singing the title role in Phillip Glass' Akhnaten for Long Beach Opera; Pergolesi and Vivaldi Stabat Mater with Lyra Baroque Orchestra of St. Paul, Minnesota; performances with the Carmel Bach Festival; the Bach Collegium San Diego under Richard Egarr, and a first place win in the Alexander International Vocal Competition, culminating in a performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall. He was also heard performing Solomon with the City Choir of Washington under Robert Shafer; with further performances at Munich’s Hochschüle für Müsik with composer Robert Owens at the piano, for Radio Bavaria; at the historic Maria la Nova Cathedral in Naples, Italy; with jazz great Kenny Burrell at Royce Hall in Los Angeles; and in recital at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC. Taylor’s recital itinerary includes appearances at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Palau Moxό in Barcelona, and the innovative “iSing” concert streamed live online throughout the world.

Darryl Taylor's New York Recital debut took place at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. In addition to his classical credits, he has been associated with such notable jazz greats as Kenny Burrell, Hubert Laws, Jimmy Owens, and Nathan Davis. Taylor’s recitals have regularly introduced audiences to works of composers like William Grant Still, Jacqueline Hairston, George Walker, Adolphus Hailstork, John Musto, Deon Nielsen Price, Edward Hart, Richard Thomspon, Ted Wiprud, Leslie Adams, and Hale Smith. Many of these works were written especially for Taylor's voice. Recent highlights of his performances include a highly successful recital at the famed Liszt Music Academy in Budapest; Merkin Concert Hall in New York, Spanish television and radio broadcasts from Barcelona's Palau de la Música, and as a featured artist under the sponsorship of the Cultural Committee for the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona and was heard in Messiah at Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC.

Founder of the African American Art Song Alliance, Taylor has debuted numerous works, including Daniel Bernard Roumaine's Epilogue, 1965 (a performance with the composer on violin and George Shirley as narrator), Erik Santos' Dreamer: Seven Poems by Langston Hughes, Deon Nielsen Price's To the Children of War, Theodore Wiprud's A Georgia Song, Richard Thompson’s Dream Variations, and Edward Hart’s The Caged Bird Sings. His recordings on Naxos and Albany record labels have received lavish praise. "Love Rejoices: Songs of H. Leslie Adams" was a Number One Critic's Choice for American Record Guide (John Boyer) for the year 2001. Others of his recordings include Dreamer: A Portrait of Langston Hughes, on the Naxos label, which featured William Warfield as narrator, Poetry Prelude: Music of Richard Thompson,Fields of Wonder: Songs and Spirituals of Robert Owens, and the recent Louis Moreau Gottschalk: Complete Orchestral Works and Escénas Campestres Cubanas with the Hot Springs Festival Orchestra, Rosenberg, conductor. Most recent is the recording “How Sweet the Sound – a charm of spirituals,” with Brent McMunn, on Albany Records.

Taylor is much sought after as a lecturer on African-American Art Song, having given lecture-recitals/master classes at the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, the University of Michigan, Florida State University, Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Florida A&M University, Morehouse College, for the International Alliance for Women in Music, and at the NATS Convention in Philadelphia, among many others. He served as a Master Teacher for the 2022 NATS Intern program at Georgia Southern University, and was inducted into the American Academy of Teachers of Singing.

A native of Detroit, Michigan, Darryl Taylor holds degrees from the University of Southern California and the University of Michigan. He is a member of Mu Phi Epsilon Music Fraternity, Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honors Society, and is on the Board of Directors Videmus, Inc.

Teaching
Advanced Voice, Vocal Literature
Founder, The African American Art Song Alliance

Selected Performance History

Barrie Kosky’s Dido and Aeneas, Los Angeles Opera October-November 2014
West Coast Premier, Akhnaten, Long Beach Opera March 2011, Title Role
World Premier, Just Above My Head, an opera with music by Nathan Davis on a novel by James Baldwin, Opera Theater of Pittsburgh Jonathan Eaton, stage director, Thomas Douglas, conductor CAPA Theater, Pittsburgh, PA, June 2004 Role of Jimmy
New York Recital Debut, 2001, Weill Recital Hall
Select Concerts, Merkin Hall, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Aaron Davis Hall, Palau de la Mùsica, Liszt Academy of Music

Selected Recordings

Hear Darryl Taylor singing Rosanna Scalfi Marcello here.

Love's Signature: Songs by Juliana Hall
MSR Records
Released December 2016

Radiance in Motion: Music of Deon Nielsen Price
Cambria Records
Released December 2016

How Sweet the Sound – a charm of spirituals
Albany Records Troy 1244
Released January 2011

Fields of Wonder: Songs and Spirituals of Robert Owens
Videmus/Albany Records Troy 897
Released December 2006

Poetry Preludes: Music of Richard Thompson
Videmus/Albany Records Troy 830
Released March 2006

Explore America, Volume One
Naxos Records, American Classics Series 8.559187
Released May 2003

Dreamer: A Portrait of Langston Hughes
Naxos Records, American Classics Series 8.559136
Released September 2002

Love Rejoices: Songs of H. Leslie Adams
Visionary/Albany Records TROY 428
Released January 2001

Sence You Went Away: Contemporary African American Art Songs and Spirituals
Visionary/Albany Records TROY 387
Released January 2000

SunRays: Music of Deon Nielsen Price
Cambria Records CD-1056
Released February 1997