Taylor Scott Davis | |
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Born | 1980 (age 42–43) |
Education | Centenary College of Louisiana |
Occupations |
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Organizations | St. Andrew United Methodist Church, Plano, Texas |
Website | www |
Taylor Scott Davis (born 1980) [1] is an American church musician, conductor and composer of mostly sacred music. Based at St. Andrew Methodist Church in Plano, Texas, he has also become an arranger and composer for the Voces8 vocal ensemble.
Davis studied at the Centenary College of Louisiana, conducting with Julia Brasher Thorn. He graduated in 2003 as Bachelor of Sacred Music. He became a Fellow of Melodious Accord in 2004. [2]
He has been church musician at St. Andrew Methodist Church in Plano, Texas. In 2018, he composed Return to Me, a new choral work for the Holy Week of c. 40 minutes. It follows the Stations of the Cross, with text by Terry W. York. The choir is supported by cello and piano. [3] Music composed by Davis has been performed throughout the U.S., Europe, South Africa and South America, by groups such as Conspirare and Voces8. [2] He has written arrangements for Voces8, for example "Joy to the World" and other Christmas carols for a 2021 video with orchestra. [4] His arrangement was credited to feature "brassy exuberance worthy of Bernstein", new "harmonic territory", "sweeping harps", "roving bass lines" and "asymmetrical sways". [5]
Davis composed a motet, Stardust, for eight voices a cappella on a commission from Voces8. In 2022, the group named its tour program after the work. [1] [6] A reviewer of a concert at Wilhering Abbey near Linz wrote that the composition left "a lasting impression" ("nachhaltigen Eindruck"), and summarized the content: "It is about the transience of life, the disintegration into the 'meteorite dust' that gives it its title, but which true love transforms again." ("Es geht um die Vergänglichkeit des Lebens, den Zerfall in den Titel gebenden 'Meteoritenstaub', den jedoch die wahre Liebe wieder wandelt.") [1] A reviewer of the concert at St. Martinus, Hattersheim, as part of the Rheingau Musik Festival, noted that the music created an architecture of layers of meditative foils of sound. [7]
Music performed a cappella, less commonly a capella, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term a cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato musical styles. In the 19th century, a renewed interest in Renaissance polyphony, coupled with an ignorance of the fact that vocal parts were often doubled by instrumentalists, led to the term coming to mean unaccompanied vocal music. The term is also used, rarely, as a synonym for alla breve.
Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150, is an early church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach composed for an unknown occasion. It is unique among Bach's cantatas in its sparse orchestration and in the independence and prominence of the chorus, which is featured in four out of seven movements. The text alternates verses from Psalm 25 and poetry by an unknown librettist. Bach scored the work for four vocal parts and a small Baroque instrumental ensemble of two violins, bassoon and basso continuo.
John Milford Rutter is an English composer, conductor, editor, arranger, and record producer, mainly of choral music.
"O Come, All Ye Faithful", also known as "Adeste Fideles", is a Christmas carol that has been attributed to various authors, including John Francis Wade (1711–1786), John Reading (1645–1692), King John IV of Portugal (1604–1656), and anonymous Cistercian monks. The earliest printed version is in a book published by Wade. A manuscript by Wade, dating to 1751, is held by Stonyhurst College in Lancashire.
Gaudete is a sacred Christmas carol, thought to have been composed in the 16th century. It was published in Piae Cantiones, a collection of Finnish/Swedish sacred songs published in 1582. No music is given for the verses, but the standard tune comes from older liturgical books.
Voces8, styled VOCES8, is an a cappella octet from England. They have appeared internationally and made recordings of classical music, jazz, pop, and their own arrangements. Recent recordings are for Decca Classics and under their own label, Voces8 Records. Educational efforts are run by the Voces8 Foundation.
Frederick Lewis Swann was an American church and concert organist, choral conductor, composer, and president of the American Guild of Organists. His extensive discography includes both solo organ works and choral ensembles he has conducted.
Philip Lawson is a British choral conductor, composer and arranger. For 18 years he was a baritone with the King's Singers and the group's principal arranger for the last fifteen years of that period. In 2009 the group's album "Simple Gifts", on which Lawson arranged 10 out of 15 tracks, won the Grammy award for "Best Classical Crossover Album". In February 2012, he left the King's Singers to concentrate on his writing career.
James Anthony O'Donnell is a British organist, choral conductor and academic teacher who has been a professor of organ at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music in Connecticut, United States, since 2023.
Katherine Kennicott Davis was an American composer, pianist, arranger, and teacher, whose most well-known composition is the Christmas song "Carol of the Drum," later known as "The Little Drummer Boy".
Pentatonix are an American a cappella group from Arlington, Texas, consisting of vocalists Scott Hoying, Mitch Grassi, Kirstin Maldonado, Matt Sallee, and Kevin Olusola. Characterized by their pop-style arrangements with vocal harmonies, basslines, riffing, percussion, and beatboxing, they produce cover versions of modern pop works or Christmas songs, sometimes in the form of medleys, along with original material. Pentatonix was formed in 2011 and subsequently won the third season of NBC's The Sing-Off, receiving $200,000 and a recording contract with Sony Music. When Sony's Epic Records dropped the group after The Sing-Off, the group formed its YouTube channel, distributing its music through Madison Gate Records, a label owned by Sony Pictures.
The Chor von St. Bonifatius is a German mixed choir, the church choir of the parish St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden. It was founded in 1862 as a male choir and was a mixed choir from 1887. From 1981 to 2018, it was conducted by Gabriel Dessauer, who founded two children's choirs. The group sang the first performance in Germany of John Rutter's Mass of the Children and performed in Azkoitia, San Sebastián, Görlitz, Bruges, Macon and Rome. Colin Mawby composed for the choir the Missa solemnis Bonifatius-Messe for the 150th anniversary, celebrated on 3 October 2012. From 2019, the choir has been conducted by Roman Twardy who conducted in his first concert Dvořák's Stabat Mater. On 1 January 2022, Johannes Schröder became church musician. He conducted as his first choral concert Verdi's Requiem in an arrangement for small ensemble.
Alexander Richard William L'Estrange is an English composer of choral music and music for television and an arranger for vocal ensembles. He is also a jazz musician, choral workshop leader, presenter of children's concerts and was a jazz examiner and trainer for ABRSM.
Jacob Collier is an English singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and educator. His music incorporates a combination of jazz with elements from many other musical genres, and often features extensive use of reharmonisations and close harmony. He is also known for his energetic live performances, in which he often conducts the audience to sing harmony or percussion parts. Collier demonstrates his harmonic expertise in lectures and master classes, particularly with his unique Super-Ultra-Hyper-Mega-Meta-Lydian scale and detailed analyses of songs like Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke” and his own music.
The Deer's Cry is a sacred motet by Arvo Pärt, set to text from a traditional Irish lorica for a four-part choir a cappella. He composed the piece on a commission from the Irish Louth Contemporary Music Society. It was published by Universal Edition in 2007 and first performed in Louth, Ireland, in February 2008.
Luke Bond is a British organist and is currently Assistant Organist at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, where he played prominently for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and the funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. He has appeared internationally, and has made recordings of organ music and choral music.
Andreas Reize is a Swiss organist and conductor, with a focus on opera and choral conducting. He was appointed Thomaskantor on 11 September 2021, becoming the 18th director of music to take charge of the world famous Thomanerchor at Leipzig in succession to Johann Sebastian Bach.
Wolfram Menschick was a German Catholic church musician, composer and academic teacher. From 1969 to 2002 he was responsible for the church music at Eichstätt Cathedral, also serving the Diocese of Eichstätt as music director and organ expert. He was a bell expert, a member of a national council. From 1986 to 2000, he was a professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich. His compositions, including 36 masses, are frequently performed.
St. Martinus is a Catholic church and parish in Hattersheim am Main, Main-Taunus-Kreis, Hesse, Germany. It belongs to the Diocese of Limburg. The present church was built by Ludwig Becker in Romanesque revival style with allusions to Jugendstil, completed in 1915. He incorporated features from the earlier Baroque building.
"This Have I Done for My True Love", or "Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day", Op. 34, no. 1 [H128], is a motet or part song composed in 1916 by Gustav Holst. The words are taken from an ancient carol, and the music is so strongly influenced by English folk music that it has sometimes been mistaken for a traditional folk song itself. It has often been described as a small masterpiece.