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OUR COMPOSERS
Jim Taylor
Jim Taylor is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Fine Arts at LeTourneau University, a private, interdenominational Christian polytechnic in Longview, Texas, where he conducts two choirs, teaches classes, and oversees the department. Before this appointment he served as Director of Choral Activities at Kilgore College, also in East Texas. Prior to his career in academia he served as full-time director of music in several large churches in Florida, Colorado, and Alabama, directing children’s and youth choirs as well as adult and orchestral activities.
Dr. Taylor studied composition at Florida Atlantic University and the University of North Texas, earned a Master of Music degree in Studio Writing and Production from the University of Miami, and completed a doctorate in Choral Conducting at the University of Alabama, where he was the Narramore Scholar. Additional studies have been under Robert Shaw, John Rutter, Weston Noble and under Helmuth Rilling at the Oregon Bach Festival.
Jim founded the Jacksonville (FL) Children’s Chorus in 1995 and saw it grow in five years to 100 singers with performances at Disney World, Jaguars Stadium, and Carnegie Hall. Now under the leadership of Darren Dailey, the JCC is comprised of seven choirs and involves over 1,000 young people each year (www.jaxchildrenschorus.org). In East Texas, Jim founded and directed the Kilgore College Children’s Chorus under the aegis of Kilgore College.
During his time in East Texas, Dr. Taylor has annually presented annual concerts of choral/orchestral masterpieces including the Brahms and Mozart Requiems, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Carmina Burana, and other works. He has had the privilege of conducting the Kiev Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Kiev, Ukraine on four occasions in performances of Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast, Handel’s Dixit Dominus, Britten’s Cantata misericoridum, and others. In June of 2019 he conducted his Cambridge Songs Suite No. 2 at Carnegie Hall in a festival concert presented by MidAmerica Productions.
Jim has an avid interest in racquetball, tennis, reading, good friends, great food, jig saw puzzles, his grandchildren, and growing in his faith in Jesus Christ.