Theatre of Early Music, Schola Cantorum & Daniel Taylor
Biography Theatre of Early Music, Schola Cantorum & Daniel Taylor
Theatre of Early Music
Founded by artistic director and conductor Daniel Taylor, the Theatre of Early Music (TEM) are sought-after interpreters of magnificent yet neglected choral repertoire from four centuries. Their appearances include stunning a cappella programs, with practices and aesthetics of former ages informing thought-provoking, passionate and committed reconstructions of music for historical events and major works from the oratorio tradition. Through their concert performances and recordings, the 10-18 solo singers offer a purity and clarity in their sound which has resulted in invitations from an ever-widening circle of the world’s leading stages. With Daniel Taylor, the Choir and Orchestra of the TEM are new visitors to the most renowned concert halls and festivals and are building an exciting discography.
The Theatre of Early Music is an ensemble of some of the world’s finest musicians, sharing a particular passion for early music. Its formation is the result of a search by instrumentalists and singers for opportunities that would allow devotion and dedication to enter into the creative process. The core of the TEM consists of an ensemble based in Canada that is primarily made up of young soloists. Their distinctive style, coupled with artistic director Daniel Taylor’s expertise and enthusiasm, leads to captivating readings of magnificent but often neglected works. In various combinations, leading international musicians in the field perform on the platform provided by the Theatre of Early Music in concerts conducted by Daniel Taylor in its regular series in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, on tours around the world and on recordings. The TEM appear in some thirty concerts every year, recently having performed on stages in France, Argentina, Brazil, England and China. Most recently, the TEM led a successful North American tours that culminated with their debut at New York’s famous Carnegie Hall. The calendar also included collaborations with Dame Emma Kirkby, concerts of Handel’s Coronation Anthems and ancient German music, as well as tours of Canada, the United States and South America.
Guest artists performing with the TEM include Nancy Argenta, Robin Blaze, James Bowman, Benjamin Butterfield, Michael Chance, Charles Daniels, Neal Davies, Alexander Dobson, Karina Gauvin, Michael George, James Gilchrist, Peter Harvey, Dame Emma Kirkby, Suzie Leblanc, Daniel Lichti, Carolyn Sampson, Michiel Schrey, Stephen Varcoe, Deborah York and Agnes Zsigovics.
The Choir and Orchestra of the Theatre of Early Music has released a dozen albums so far. The best-selling debut album The Voice of Bach was praised in Gramophone Magazine as “serious music-making of the highest order”. The disc received five stars from both BBC Music Magazine and Classic Music CD, was featured on BBC’s “Desert Island Discs” and received acclaim worldwide including reviews from the Times (London), the Globe and Mail (Toronto), the New York Times, the Guardian (London) and La Scena Musicale (Montreal).
Come Again Sweet Love was also very well received by the leading media critics, as was their 2014 album The Heart’s Refuge, which reached #1 on the Canadian classical music chart.
Schola Cantorum (University of Toronto)
Founded in 2012 by Daniel Taylor, the University of Toronto Schola Cantorum aims to present the brilliant early choral and instrumental repertoire from across the centuries to a new audience. The group’s interpretations strive to recreate the original performances of musical works – interpretations led by the energy and insights of the gifted students themselves – in the belief that historical performance ideals and knowledge of the old world are essential for creating music anew. The Schola Cantorum includes students from all levels of study (Bachelor in Music, Master in Music and Doctoral Candidates), with students representing many voice studios in the Faculty. Canada has many university choral ensembles, however the Schola Cantorum is the only large scale group using period instruments and historically informed performance practices to reveal the beauty of baroque and early repertoire.
In 2012-2013, the Schola Cantorum made its inaugural performance with the famed Tallis Scholars. The ensemble also performed and toured central Canada presenting Handel’s Coronation Anthems and recorded early German works including Buxtehude’s Jesu meines Lebens Leben. In 2013-2014, the ensemble appeared in concert touring with the Gabrieli Consort, presented Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas to on four evenings to capacity audiences and offered a reenactment of the coronation ceremony of King George II (also sold-out). Most recently, the group presented Heinrich Schütz’s three-movement Musikalische Exequien in concert, accompanied by the Theatre of Early Music Orchestra.
The University of Toronto Faculty of Music is located in one of the world’s most vibrant, multicultural, arts-oriented cities. Based on publications and citations, the University of Toronto leads Canadian research universities in Fine Arts and Music.
Daniel Taylor
is one of the most sought-after countertenors in the world. He appears on more than 100 recordings. Mr. Taylor has performed with the New York Metropolitan Opera, Glyndebourne, Rome, San Francisco, Welsh National, Montreal, and Canadian Opera; at the Edinburgh Festival and at the Royal Albert Hall/BBC Proms. He recently took a role in the world premiere of the Robert Lepage staging of Thomas Adès’s The Tempest. He works with the Tonhalle Zurich, Toronto, Gothenburg, Rotterdam, St. Louis, and Cleveland orchestras. In recital, he has sung at Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, in Beijing, Barcelona, and across North America. He sang on Parliament Hill for Queen Elizabeth and the Prime Minister of Canada.
Mr. Taylor is a professor of voice and opera and head of Historical Performance at the University of Toronto, visiting faculty at the Victoria Conservatory of Music, and a visiting artist at the University of Vienna. He is artistic director and conductor of the choir and orchestra of the Theatre of Early Music, which performs more than 30 concerts every year in concert halls all over the world. He is also artistic director of the new professional ensemble The Trinity Choir, whose second critically acclaimed recording The Tree of Life was released in 2016. Having recently turned his attention to conducting, he was the first guest conductor in the history of the Tallis Scholars. He has also made his debuts with the Kammerchor Stuttgart and the Gabrieli Consort. In 2013, Prof. Taylor was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal by the Governor General for his work in charity and cultural development in Canada. His recent recording with actor Jeremy Irons won a Grammy.
