Alexander Lawther Taylor (born 1988) is a New Zealand composer, poet and writer.
Taylor was born in 1988[1] and attended Westlake Boys High School.[2] At the University of Auckland he studied music and English.[2] In 2011 he received an MMus(Composition) with a folio of compositions for viola and orchestra, piano, clarinet and ensembles.[3] He was supervised by Eve de Castro-Robinson and John Elmsly.[4]
Taylor sings and plays several instruments: piano, violin and saxophone.[5][6] He lists the 20th and 21st century composers and musicians who have influenced him as: Europeans Anton Webern, György Ligeti and Gérard Grisey, Americans Charles Ives, Morton Feldman, Annea Lockwood and Conlon Nancarrow; New Zealanders Anthony Watson, Samuel Holloway and Eve de Castro-Robinson.[7]
Taylor also writes poetry and specialises in setting words to music.[2][5] He also composes for small ensembles, orchestras and choirs. In New Zealand the NZSO and ensemble 175 East have performed his music.[5][6]
In 2012 the National Youth Orchestra premiered his work feel commissioned when he was the orchestra's Composer-in-Residence.[8] It features viola and cor anglais solos.[8] The third movement of the work is [inner] which was his winning entry in the NZSO Todd Corporation Young Composers Award in 2011.[4][8]
Taylor has been commissioned by Westlake Boys High School to write pieces which have been performed by them: two years later (2013) for male voice choir and a summoning (2016) for the concert band.
In 2016 he attended the Darmstadt new-music/avant garde festival where he presented a show The Unauthorised History of New Zealand Music with New Zealand composer Celeste Oram.[5]
Taylor is currently studying for a PhD at the University of California San Diego under Lei Liang.[9][10]
In 2012 Taylor won the SOUNZ Contemporary Award at the APRA New Zealand awards for [inner].[10] He was the youngest person to receive the award.[2] He won the Composers Association of New Zealand Trust Fund Award in 2013.[10] In 2016 Taylor was the recipient of an Arts Foundation New Generation Awards.[5][10]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
