James Taylor in recital

part of Yale School of Music's Faculty Artist Series

 “The Evangelist was the number-one Bach Evangelist in the world today:  James Taylor, a tenor from Houston. (…) His singing is almost impossibly fresh, lovely – and accurate.  It is also extraordinarily easy.  Mr. Taylor goes for a high note like other people reach for a grape.  And he has a thorough understanding of what he is doing.  He can put some vinegar in his voice, when he needs to.  And his diction is very, very clear.  As I’ve noted in reviews past, Mr. Taylor is almost eerily perfect.”  The Sun (March, 2008)

“He sings with a hundred different voices, however, the most moving is his tone of quiet desperation:  when he speaks of sorrow and death, when Bach writes finest chromaticism in the highest range, when Taylor’s voice simultaneously becoming tender and soft, begins to soar effortlessly.  Süddeutsche Zeitung

Sunday, January 25, 2009 / 5 pm

Sprague Memorial Hall  - free

beethoven: An die ferne geliebte

Schubert: Auf dem wasser zu singen

Schumann: Dichterliebe

James Taylor is one of the most sought after and highly regarded oratorio singers on the circuit today.  He appears world-wide with such renowned conductors as Herbert Blomstedt, Christoph Eschenbach, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Phillipe Herreweghe, Kurt Masur, Franz Welser-Möst,  Sir Roger Norrington and Helmuth Rilling.  He performs regularly with the world’s leading ensembles like the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Houston Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Tafelmusik, Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields, Akakemie für Alte Musik, Concentus Musicus Wien and countless others. His forty CD recordings, including: Britten’s War Requiem, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, Mendelssohn’s Paulus and Elias, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, Handel’s Messiah, Conradi’s Ariadne and Art Songs of John Duke and F.J. Haydn, display his clear, vibrant tenor, his exceptional versatility, and his impeccable musicianship.

James Taylor received his training at Texas Christian University, where he was a vocal student of Dr. Arden Hopkin. Receiving a Fulbright Scholarship in 1991, he studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich with Adalbert Kraus and Daphne Evangelatos.  He began his teaching career as Professor of Voice at the Hochschule für Musik, Nürnberg-Augsburg.  In 2005, he returned to the United States to begin his professorship at Yale Institute of Sacred Music and Yale School of Music.

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