Biography

Stephen Andrew Taylor’s music often explores boundaries between art and science. His first orchestra commission, Unapproachable Light, inspired by images from the Hubble Space Telescope and the New Testament, was premiered by the American Composers Orchestra in 1996 in Carnegie Hall. Other works include the chamber quartet Quark Shadows, commissioned by the Chicago Symphony and premiered in 2001; and Seven Memorials, a 32-minute cycle for piano inspired by the work of Maya Lin and premiered by Gloria Cheng in Los Angeles, 2004; it was also featured at Tanglewood in 2006. Excerpts from his opera-in-progress Paradises Lost were performed by the New York City Opera in May 2006 and by American Opera Projects in October 2007. Other projects include new works for the Berlin-based Quartet New Generation with the New Philharmonic, and the Pacifica Quartet. 2008 will see performances in Washington DC, Amsterdam, Spain, and the Bali Arts Festival. Besides composing for traditional instruments, Taylor also works with live electronics in pieces such as Nebulae for harp, laptop and live video, premiered by Ann Yeung in Dublin, 2005; the video is based on paintings by his wife Hua Nian. He is also active as a conductor with the University of Illinois New Music Ensemble, and as a theorist, writing and lecturing on interactive music, György Ligeti, and Björk. He studied at Northwestern and Cornell Universities, and the California Institute of the Arts; his teachers include Steven Stucky, Karel Husa, Mel Powell, Bill Karlins and Alan Stout. His music has won awards from Northwestern, Cornell, the Conservatoire Américain de Fontainebleau, Composers, Inc., the Debussy Trio, the Howard Foundation, the College Band Directors National Association, the New York State Federation of Music Clubs, the Illinois Arts Council, the American Music Center, and ASCAP. Among his commissions are works for Northwestern University, University of Illinois, the Syracuse Society for New Music, Pink Martini and the Oregon Symphony, the Quad City Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, Quartet New Generation and the New Philharmonic, Piano Spheres, and the American Composers Orchestra. Taylor is Associate Professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he lives with his wife and two children.

photo by Hua Nian  Contact info  phone (217) 333-3712  School of Music  1114 West Nevada St.  University of Illinois  Urbana, IL 61801  email: staylor7 at uiuc.edu

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Last updated February 8, 2008 by Stephen Taylor, staylor7@uiuc.edu.