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Taylor Music Festival Faculty and Performer: Robert Taylor
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 Robert Taylor is Director of Choral Activities at the College of Charleston, the Director of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra Chorus and the CSO Chamber Singers, and the Founding Artistic Director of the Taylor Music Festival and Festival Choir. Called by critic Lindsay Koob a “rising star in the national choral scene,” Taylor’s choirs have been described as sounding “more musical than would seem possible,” (Charleston Post and Courier) and have received numerous plaudits from critics and choral specialists for their technical proficiency, musicalty and beautiful sound production.
Dr. Taylor's ensembles have performed throughout the U.S. and Europe, and have been featured in numerous festivals and special concerts, including the 2005 American Choral Directors Association National Convention in Los Angeles, CA., the 2004 American Choral Directors Association Southern Division Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, the 2003 American Guild of Organists Region IV Convention, and annual appearances in Spoleto USA and the Piccolo Spoleto Festival.
Dr. Taylor has conducted over 30 major choral/orchestral works to critical acclaim, and his recording of Vaughan Williams's Epithalamion and An Oxford Elegy with Chorus Civitas of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was favorably reviewed by the American Record Guide and Fanfare magazine—Fanfare declaring the recording "a highly accomplished performance" and stating that "Taylor and his forces capture (Vaughan Williams' score's) ebb and flow perfectly."
He has also prepared numerous choral/orchestral masterworks for performances with prestigious conductors such the Charleston Symphony Orchestra’s David Stahl and Scott Terrell, Dr. Joseph Flummerfelt (Spoleto USA, New York Choral Artists, and formerly Westminster Choir College) and Dr. Kenneth Fulton (Louisiana State University).
Since 2001, Dr. Taylor has served as Founding Conductor of the Taylor Festival Choir, a professional choral ensemble that has been hailed by critics and choral specialists alike as being one of the nation’s finest. This group's first commercial recording--This is Thy Hour O Soul-has been released internationally on the Centaur label. Taylor is also Artistic Director of the Taylor Music Group, and the Taylor Music Festival, a summer festival named after his deceased father-a high school choral conductor of distinction. This festival incorporates music performance and education in classical, folk and Suzuki disciplines.
Also in demand as a guest conductor, clinician and lecturer, Dr. Taylor has been featured in these capacities throughout the U.S., Canada, and Ireland. He serves as coordinator for the Choral Artist Series in the renowned Piccolo Spoleto Festival. He is editor of the Robert Taylor Choral Series in Colla Voce Publications, and has lectured and published studies on the music of Vaughan Williams, Stravinsky, and the use of bel-canto era vocal principles in a choral setting. An experienced tenor soloist, Dr. Taylor has performed numerous operatic roles, including Belmonte in Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio, Kaspar in Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors, Mayor Upfold in Britten's Albert Herring, and Frederic and Ralph Rackstraw in Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance and H.M.S. Pinafore. He has also appeared in concert and recital throughout the southwest and in South Carolina.
Dr. Taylor holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting degree from Louisiana State University, a Masters of Music in Vocal Performance from Sam Houston State University, and a Bachelor in Music Education degree from the University of Central Arkansas. He has studied conducting with Dr. Kenneth Fulton, Dr. B. R. Henson, John Erwin, and his late father, Bob
Taylor. Taylor is married to violinist/fiddler and Na Fidleiri Director Mary Taylor. They have one child, Kiri Noelle, age eleven.
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