About

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 Santa Fe Opera, Opera Louisiane, Opera Birmingham, Mississippi Opera, Naples Philharmonic, Virginia Arts Festival, The Viginia Symphony, Piedmont Opera Company, the A.J. Fletcher Institute, LSU Opera, and Frost Opera Theater. His recent roles include Tybalt in Roméo et Juliette, Jason in Farbermann’s 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. As a concert singer, he has performed as Obadiah in Elijah, the Evangelist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion as well as the tenor soloist in the Magnificat, Finzi’s Dies Natalis, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Creation, Lord Nelson Mass, Paukenmesse, and Theresianmesse, Schubert’s A-flat Mass, and Britten’s Serenade.

An avid performer of art song, David has presented recitals across the United States and Europe, including a tour of Schubert’s Winterreise culminating in a featured recital at the National Opera Center in New York City and an upcoming Carnegie Hall solo recital. He has performed at the Cleveland Art Song Festival, SongFest, and continues to be in demand as an active recitalist. David has collaborated with composers on their original work including Libby Larsen, Ben Moore, and Jake Runestad, and including the West Coast premiere of Ben Moore’s Dear Theo, the world premiere of A Page Out of Zen by Ryan Jesperson, and the world premiere of Thomas Sleeper’s Beatrice Bends for her Blue Ball. David is the curator of the Capstone Song Initiative, an annual concert series that promotes the work of living composers in America.

Mr. Tayloe has performed with the Grammy nominated ensemble Seraphic Fire and the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, and Voices, among other professional ensembles.  He has been a performer at the Magnolia Baroque Festival in North Carolina, 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. He has collaborated with Martin Katz and participated in master classes with Julius Drake, Christoph Pregardien, Graham Johnson, Renee Fleming, Wolfram Rieger, Craig Terry, and Roger Vignoles.

David holds degrees from University of Miami and Louisiana State University, and the Eastman School of Music. Additional studies at the Britten-Pears Institute at Snape Maltings in Aldeburg, England. In the fall of 2014, David joined the faculty of the University of Alabama where he serves Assistant Professor of Voice.