“a piece that was glitzy, pizzazz-y and enormously fun.”
(The Times, 4* – Magnificat)
When not writing or conducting, Taylor Scott Davis serves as the Director of Music and Worship Arts at St. Andrew Methodist Church in Plano, Texas.
Newly appointed VOCES8 and VOCES8 Foundation Composer-in-Residence (’25-Aug’27), Taylor’s star is fast on the rise. Hailed by the Wall Street Journal as penning “dreamy vocal lines” that “overlap and intensify to stunning effect”, Taylor Scott Davis’ “beguiling” (BBC Music Magazine) writing is much in demand by both orchestras and vocal groups around the globe. His music has been described as “sonically luxurious”, memorable and inspiring of hope, and his belief in supporting collaboration, diversity and creating musical opportunities at all levels underpins all. From “full filmic blockbuster technicolour” to soulful and glorious orchestral textures and melodies, Taylor’s music has a unique and timely voice.
Recent premieres of Taylor’s works have been at Carnegie Hall (Magnificat), Sydney Opera House (Effortlessly), the Barbican, and Cadogan Hall (A Mosaic Mass). This current season includes further premieres at Sydney Opera House (by Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and Sydney Symphony) and twice at Carnegie Hall including Taylor’s The Poetry of Psalms which he’ll conduct himself. BBC Scottish Symphony gave the Scottish premiere of Magnificat to close Sir James MacMillan’s Cumnock Tryst festival this autumn. To Sing of Love will receive its concert world premiere and the Requiem its US premiere. Taylor will appear conducting, speaking and leading masterclasses as Composer-in-Residence across many choral institutions in the US and Europe in this upcoming season.
“Sparkling, roof-raising arrangements”
(5* BBC Music Magazine – five carol arrangements)“sweetly glowing, beautifully coloured choral music”
(The Guardian – To Sing of Love)
Recent commissions have included the new Requiem which will be released on Decca Classics in Spring ’26 alongside Taylor’s Jubilate Deo, i carry your heart (from new orchestral/choral work The Poetry of Psalms), Effortlessly (from violin/choir concerto To Sing of Love), and Taylor’s arrangements of Elgar Lux Aeterna and Faure Cantique de Jean Racine. Taylor’s Requiem is a work of both tumult and hope, including a particularly beautiful setting of Siegfried Sassoon’s poem Idyll.
Other significant releases on Decca Classics include Magnificat and five carol arrangements on ‘A Choral Christmas’ and violin/choir/orchestral concerto To Sing of Love on VOCES8 Records. Stardust has been premiered around the world by VOCES8 and appears on the group’s recent Decca Classics release, ‘Nightfall’.
“it’s the sumptuousness velvetiness of the textures, the propelling nature of the counterpoint, the contrasts of light and darkness, the prevailing exultancy – that really draw the listener’s attention”
(Opera Today – ‘To Sing of Love’ for violin, choir, orchestra)
Significant works in progress include: Windphone, a new collaboration with renowned poet Charles Anthony Silvestri to create a contemporary oratorio inspired by the events of the 2011 Japanese Tsunami. A Migrant’s Mass which was inspired by the image of a particularly visceral drowning in the ongoing global immigration crisis including as its Credo text, a poem from a WWII concentration camp:
“I believe in the sun even when it is not shining.
I believe in love even when I do not feel.
Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem,
factorem cæli et terræ, visibilium omnium et invisibilium.
I believe in God even when he is silent.”
Taylor has written and arranged for groups including the Grammy-winning choir Conspirare, VOCES8 and its Choir and Orchestra, Lyyra, Apollo5, Texas Master Chorale, the English Chamber Orchestra and symphony orchestras around the world. He often conducts his own performances with players from top London orchestras and Fort Worth, Dallas, and Houston symphony orchestras. Taylor’s ensemble music has been performed throughout the USA, Europe, South America, and South Africa, and his gaming music has been played around the world.
Published primarily by MorningStar Music/E.C.Shirmer across his own choral/orchestral series – the Taylor Scott Davis Choir & Orchestra Series – and as part of The VOCES8 Foundation’s own publishing series, Taylor has also been commissioned to write a series of four new Christmas Suites, edited by Bradley Ellingboe and Dr. Jennaya Robison for National Music Publishing USA. The first three suites Journey into Light, Ring Out Wild Bells and Heaven and Nature Sing have been premiered and are now available.
A Mosaic Mass – a concept created and curated by Taylor to promote multiple collaborative opportunities for composers and communities – had its first showcase at London’s Cadogan Hall in March 2024 and further collaborative iterations are in discussion around the globe. Alongside Taylor for its first edition, the four penning movements were composing friends Jocelyn Hagen, Ken Burton, Jim Clements and Paul Smith.
LIVE From London’s lavish choral/orchestral production of Taylor’s carols was viewed/received acclaim in over 180 territories across the media. O come, O come Emmanuel received over a quarter of a million views/listens in under a month, and Silent Night was a close second, receiving its world premiere on Classic FM radio and online.
When not writing or conducting, Taylor Scott Davis serves as the Director of Music and Worship Arts at St. Andrew Methodist Church in Plano, Texas. He is a 2003 graduate and notable alumnus of Centenary College of Louisiana. Taylor earned a Bachelor of Sacred Music degree while studying conducting with Dr. Julia Brasher Thorn, as well as intensive courses with Dr. Sandra Willets, Dr. Ann Howard Jones, Paul Oakley, Alice Parker, and Jane Marshall. He has also studied composition with Dr. Eric McIntyre, Ms. Parker, and Ms. Marshall. In 2004, he became a Fellow of Melodious Accord.
“This was a programme of the ‘old’ made ‘new’. Taylor Scott Davis’ new arrangements of six traditional carols had a dazzling Romantic sweep which the Orchestra of 50 musicians – led by Jack Liebeck and the Carducci Quartet – and 24-strong Choir relished. Imaginative instrumentations, new chord progressions and textures, re-harmonisations and added melodic strands brought freshness to the familiar themes.” (Opera Today)
