Benedict Taylor (musician)


Benedict Taylor is a British avant-garde violist, violinist and composer.

Life

Taylor was born in Kendal near the English Lake District and is the son of the Kendal based author Caroline Moir. He studied viola at the Royal Northern College of Music with Roger Bigley – Lindsay Quartet, Thomas Riebl, Steve Berry, Chris Rowland. From 2008–2010, he read ethnomusicology at Goldsmiths, University of London.
He has been married to Indian actress Radhika Apte since 2012.

Career

Taylor is a leading figure within contemporary composition, modern string performance and improvised music in the British and European new music world. The central focus of his work is in new composition for live performance, film, theatre, contemporary dance, art installation and electro-acoustic composition. In performance, he predominantly works within improvisation, new composition and 20th/21st century music. In 2018 he signed to London based music publisher and composer agency Manners McDade.
Within his performance work there is a focus on solo performance as a creative and investigative process. In 2013 he initiated an ongoing commission series and solo label Subverten, aimed at investigating conventional and unconventional elements in solo viola performance. The first works premiered in autumn 2013 and continue several times each year.
He has worked with a number of music organisations and ensembles including; clapTON Ensemble, re:sound, London Improvisers Orchestra, Berlin Improvisers Orchestra, Project Instrumental, Tokyo Improvisers Orchestra, Kammer Klang Players, Squib-Box, ARCO, London Sinfonietta Collective, Regular Music II.
Notable festival, venue and radio appearances include; Jazz en Nord Festival France, Tete a Tete Opera Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte – Montepulciano, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Fete de la Musique Berlin, Manchester International Festival, Manchester Jazz Festival, Cheltenham Festival, BBC Radio 3, Resonance FM, Radio Libertaire/Epsilonia.
Through his work he is also involved with several higher education institutions, giving lectures and seminars at the Royal College of Music, City University London and Goldsmiths, University of London, Royal Holloway College and York University amongst others.
A large part of his composition is in film and theater scoring, writing soundtracks for many works including;
Sleepwalkers, Ghost Stories, The Hungry, Ghoul, Fireworks & Djinns of Eidgah, The Bright Day, Maunraag, Waves of Power, That Girl in Yellow Boots,, Harud , Ship of Theseus, with ongoing screenings, garnering awards and critical acclaim at film festivals including Berlinale, Venice, London, Toronto, Shanghai, Mumbai and Rotterdam, London Film Critics Circle.
He is the founder and artistic director of CRAM, a music collective and independent record label, which produces and promotes improvisation and new composition through both recorded and live mediums. The group is notable for working across geographical, cultural, media and artistic boundaries.
He is active within the London session music community having worked in performance and recording settings with artists including; Jimmy Page, Basement Jaxx, Madness, Aphex Twin, Belle and Sebastian, Serafina Steer, Jarvis Cocker, You Me At Six, Donovan, Micah P. Hinson, Foals, Cherry Ghost.

Discography

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