Tyler Taylor (1992) is a composer-performer and teaching artist from Louisville, KY. Described as possessing a “mastery of tone and timbre” (Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser) and as “original in concept and realization” (Edwin Outwater), his work explores creating abstract musical analogies for social-political happenings both present and past. Common among these pieces is a sense of contradiction – sometimes whimsical, sometimes alarming – that comes from the interaction of diverse musical layers.
Taylor’s recent honors include the Cleveland Orchestra Daniel R. Lewis Composer Fellowship (2025–28), the San Francisco Symphony Michael Morgan Prize (2024), the Copland House Residency Award (2023), an I-Park Foundation Residency (2023), and the Louisville Orchestra Creator Corps Residency (2022–23). As a music educator and teaching artist, he founded and teaches the Louisville Orchestra Young Composer Program, where students from JCPS have their pieces workshopped and performed by members of the Louisville Orchestra. The program has featured over 60 premieres in its first three years. He also teaches composition and horn at the Louisville Academy of Music, while maintaining a private studio of horn students.
He has been commissioned by the Cleveland Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, Davis Hale, Adam Sadberry, Jon P. Cherry, the Louisville Orchestra, Washington and Lee State University, the Youth Performing Arts School, the Chicago Composers Orchestra, the Indiana University New Music Ensemble, the Indiana Bandmasters Association, the National Orchestral Institute, and more. His work has also been recognized by awards including the New Music USA Creator Fund (2024), the BMI Student Composer Award (2019) and the Howard Hanson Ensemble Prize (2017, 2016).
Tyler holds degrees from Indiana University (Doctor of Music with minors in Music Theory & Horn Performance), the Eastman School of Music (Master of Music), and the University of Louisville (Bachelor of Music).