Daniel Taylor, O.C.

Meet Daniel, Artistic and General Director

Daniel John Taylor is praised by the critics and audience alike as “Canada’s superstar countertenor”. Since his career debuts at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, the Glyndebourne Festival, and the Rome Opera followed by award‑winning solo and choral conducting recordings on SONY and DG, Daniel is one of the most sought‑after artists in the world. Recognition of Daniel’s work can be seen in the GRAMMY, Gramophone, Juno, Opus, CBC‑SRC, BBC and Adisq Awards. Additional operatic engagements have included the San Francisco Opera, the Welsh National, Opéra de Montréal, the Canadian Opera Company and his many roles at the Teatro Colon. Taylor has performed with the Edinburgh Festival, the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, the symphonies of Madrid, Dallas and Toronto and with Tafelmusik. He has been heard in recital at the BBC Proms and at Wigmore Hall in London; at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and Zürich’s Tonhalle; in China’s Forbidden City; at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris; and at Carnegie Hall.

Community and leadership

Through a vast range of activities, Daniel Taylor works to affirm access to important community events and believes in equality of opportunity, partnering with artists, not‑for‑profit organizations, politicians, philanthropists and educators to bring forward the benefits of music and the arts for our health and culture.

Across the country, in a variety of key relationships, Daniel Taylor guides the work of major arts institutions, encourages the creation of projects featuring old and new repertoire, and mentors artists at the beginning of and throughout their careers. Daniel Taylor is Professor of Opera, Voice and Early Music and Director of the Historical Performance Area at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. He is also the new General and Artistic Director of the Toronto Consort. Opera Canada commented that “Daniel Taylor shepherds the elite selected from only the finest and most promising singers”. Broadway.com praised Taylor as “the beloved singer, leading figure in the field of opera and early music and perhaps Canada’s most popular voice teacher.”

Recognition and honours

“Canada’s most prolific classical recording artist” (CBC Radio) – Taylor may be heard on over 120 albums and in films on labels including DG Archiv, Warner, DECCA and SONY. He also appears on Cirque du Soleil recordings of Totem and Avatar. He was awarded the Queen’s Jubilee Medal, the National Medal for Music and named as an Officer of the Order of Canada. Daniel Taylor is Professor of Opera, Voice and Early Music and Director of the Historical Performance Area at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. Taylor joins an esteemed list of leaders named over the past 50 years in politics and science including the Nobel prize laureate John Polanyi, author Margaret Atwood, sports icons Wayne Gretzky and Terry Fox, as well as musicians Joni Mitchell, Oscar Peterson and Celine Dion. In January 2024, Daniel Taylor became the first musician in history to both sing and lead the orchestra and choir in a State Funeral – the event was a tribute to the life of the Honourable Ed Broadbent and to Social Democracy.