A native of North Carolina, tenor, David Tayloe has been praised for his “lovely tenor that sings with Mozartean finesse.” David has made appearances with the Aldeburgh Festival, Snape Proms, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Santa Fe Opera, Druid City Opera, Opera Louisiane, Opera Birmingham, Mississippi Opera, Naples Philharmonic, Virginia Arts Festival, The Virginia Symphony, and the Augusta Symphony.
David is a frequent guest soloist in Bach cantata series. Notable concert roles include Obadiah in Elijah, the Evangelist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, tenor soloist in B-Minor Mass and Magnificat, Finzi’s Dies Natalis, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Creation, Lord Nelson Mass, Paukenmesse, and Theresianmesse, Schubert’s Mass in A-flat major, and Britten’s Serenade. Under Philippe Herreweghe’s direction at the Snape Proms he performed a concert of Bach Cantatas and Bach’s Mass in D-Minor. The artist’s opera roles include the Duke in Rigoletto, Tybalt in Roméo et Juliette, Jason in Medea, Albert in Albert Herring, Gastone in La Traviata, Student in Michael Torke’s Strawberry Fields, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, Candide in Bernstein’s Candide, and Mozart in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Mozart and Salieri.
An avid performer of art song, David made his solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall in January of 2020. He has been an active recitalist in both the US and the UK. Most recently, he performed a recital at the Red House, the historic home of Benjamin Britten, and the 1901 Arts Club in London, England. David has been a prize winner of The American Prize in the Men’s Art Song category. He has performed at the Cleveland Art Song Festival, SongFest, Song Collaborators Consortia, and continues to be in demand as an active recitalist across the continent. David has collaborated with composers on original works including Libby Larsen, Ben Moore, Michael Torke, and Jake Runestad including the premieres of Ben Moore’s Dear Theo, A Page Out of Zen by Ryan Jesperson, and Thomas Sleeper’s Beatrice Bends for her Blue Ball, amongst others. David is curator of the Capstone Song Initiative, an annual concert series that promotes the work of living composers in America.
Mr. Tayloe has performed with Seraphic Fire, Apollos Fire, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Voices, Taylor Festival Choir, Cahaba Chamber Chorale, and other ensembles. He has been a performer at the Magnolia Baroque Festival, The Salem Bach Festival, the Duffy Composers Institute at the Virginia Arts Festival, and was twice awarded the Stern Fellowship at Songfest in Los Angeles as well as the recital fellowship. David can be heard on the upcoming album “Pathways to Healing” with the Taylor Festival Choir released on PARMA/NAVONA records.
David holds degrees from University of Miami, Louisiana State University, and the Eastman School of Music with additional studies at the Britten-Pears Institute at Snape Maltings in Aldeburgh, England. In the fall of 2014, David joined the faculty of the University of Alabama where he serves Associate Professor of Voice and is actively in demand as guest teacher and clinician.
