Benedict Taylor (musician)

Benedict Taylor (born 1982) is a British avant-garde composer and violist, who works within contemporary music and improvisation. He studied viola at the Royal Northern College of Music (2000–2004) with Roger Bigley – Lindsay Quartet, Thomas Riebl, Steve Berry (improvisation), Chris Rowland (chamber music). From 2008–2010, he then read ethnomusicology at Goldsmiths, University of London. He was born in Kendal near the English Lake District and is the son of the Kendal based author Caroline Moir. He is married to Indian actress Radhika Apte in 2012.

Taylor is a leading figure within contemporary composition, modern string performance & improvised music in the British & European new music world. The central focus of his work is in new composition for live performance, film, theatre, contemporary dance, art installation & electro-acoustic composition. In performance, he predominantly works within improvisation, new composition & 20th/21st century music.

Through performance/recording he has worked with artists including: Lawrence Upton,Stephen Crowe, Alex Ward, Daniel Thompson, Terry Day, Tom Jackson, Anton Mobin, Keith Tippett, Eugenio Colombo, Steve Beresford, Evan Parker,Tony Conrad, Jonathan Cole, Francesco Hoch, John Corigliano, Oliver Knussen, Krzysztof Penderecki.

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 & solo label Subverten (For Viola Solo), aimed at investigating conventional & unconventional elements in solo viola perfoemance. The first works premiered in autumn 2013 and continue several times each year.

He works 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.

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