Richard Taylor (31)

American tenor vocalist (1946-2016). Do not confuse with the bass or baritone Taylors. Richard Taylor began his career as a Resident Artist with the Tri-Cities Opera in Binghamton, New York, and five years later in 1974 became the New York City Opera's youngest leading tenor with his much-acclaimed debut as Alfredo in La Traviata. In his five years there he sang more than a hundred performances of twenty leading roles ranging from the standard tenor fare (Pinkerton, Faust, Don Jose, Des Grieux) to the unusual (Boito's Mefistofele, Korngold's Die Tote Stadt). In 1976 Taylor performed Verdi's Stiffelio in the belated American Premiere of the work, given at the opera house of the Brooklyn Academy of Music. During the years 1974 - 1979 Taylor appeared regularly as a guest artist with symphony orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States, with an impressive total of thirty-five leading tenor roles to his credit, ranging from the bel-canto (Norma and Lucia di Lammermoor to the French (Carmen, Manon, Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Romèo et Juliet, Faust and Le Cid, to the traditional (Rigoletto, La Bohème, Tosca) to the more dramatic fare (Un Ballo in Maschera, La Fanciulla del West, Il Trovatore and Der Fliegende Hollander.) In 1979 Taylor retired from opera to become the extremely successful founder and president of a computer retail company. But in 1990, thanks to a last-minute cancellation, he was hired by the Chicago Symphony's newly appointed Music Director Daniel Barenboim to return to singing as the tenor soloist in four performances of The Verdi Requiem with The Munich Philharmonic. Since his sudden return to opera, Taylor has appeared in concert with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven's 9th Symphony, and with the Orlando Opera as Hoffmann. On December 25, 1990, Taylor made his debut, as Rodolfo in La Bohème, with the Deutsche Oper Berlin. He continued to sing throughout America and Europe, scoring notable successes, for a decade.