The Coronation of King George
FORCES: Conductor/2 Actors/18-Voice Choir/10-Piece Orchestra
“The presence of a real archbishop, a bewigged monarch-to-be and the participation of the large Walter Hall audience in the singing of Jerusalem added to the sense of occasion. The effervescent Taylor and his company had the musical smarts to carry it off. The regal Handel procession and spirited anthems, the big-voiced Orlando Gibbons and the a cappella Palestrina backed up the serious religiosity on display. And Parry’s 1916 setting of Jerusalem, William Blake’s vision of a holy city built “in England’s green and pleasant Land,” crowned the spirit of the British Empire that had ruled the waves for hundreds of years.”
TAVENER The Lamb
A magnificent coronation service full of celebration, pomp and ceremony. With original texts and through thoughtful research, Daniel Taylor and the Theatre of Early Music take us on a musical pilgrimage back to Westminster Abbey in 1727 in a truly illuminating and spectacular reconstruction of the Coronation of King George II. Majestic trumpet fanfares, drum processions and shouts of acclamation provide the framework for some of the greatest of all ceremonial music. Featuring Handel’s great Coronation Anthem Zadok the Priest alongside beautiful music by Henry Purcell, Thomas Tallis, William Parry and John Taverner, this concert is quite simply a remarkable event.
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Biography
Recognized as “Canada’s star countertenor” and “Canada’s most prolific recording artist”, Daniel Taylor has received invitations from the world’s preeminent early and contemporary music ensembles, appearing in opera (Metropolitan Opera, Glyndebourne, San Francisco), oratorio (Gabrieli Consort, Monteverdi Choir/English Baroque Soloists, Bach Collegium Japan, Les Arts Florissants), and symphonic works (Cleveland, St. Louis, Lisbon, Philadelphia, Tonhalle Zurich, Toronto, and Gothenburg,).
An exclusive recording artist for Sony Classical Masterworks, Daniel Taylor’s discography of more than 100 recordings includes the 2017 Juno Award nominated Four Thousand Winter with the Trinity Choir, and its companion release The Tree of Life. Other recorded highlights include Bach Cantatas with Monteverdi Choir/Gardiner, Handel’s Rinaldo with Bartoli/Academy of Ancient Music/Hogwood, and a CD/DVD of Bach’s Mass in B minor with the Ensemble Orchestral Paris/Nelson.
Mr. Taylor is Head of Early Music and Professor of Voice at the University of Toronto, and is Artistic Director and Conductor of the Choir and Orchestra of the Theatre of Early Music, which he founded in 2002.