Note: I welcome questions and am always interested in collaborating with performers, ensembles and other artists. Please don’t hesitate to email me at ryan@choirworks.com.
M. Ryan Taylor
856 N 350 W
American Fork, UT 84003
SUMMARY
M. Ryan Taylor is a composer, conductor, vocalist, and arts educator whose creative work encompasses opera, choral music, art song, musical theater, and chamber music. His catalog includes two produced operas, numerous choral compositions performed internationally, and a growing body of vocal and instrumental works. A passionate advocate for community music-making, Taylor has conducted choirs for more than three decades, served as Artistic Director of the American Fork Children’s Choir, co-founded the Salty Cricket Composers Collective, and founded Utah’s first statewide ukulele festival. As a performer, educator, and producer, he is dedicated to creating meaningful artistic experiences that unite performers and audiences through story, beauty, and shared human experience.
EDUCATION
- Bachelor of Music, emphasis vocal performance, Brigham Young University (2000)
- Master of Music, emphasis composition, Brigham Young University (2002)
- Conducting teachers include Mack Wilberg, Ronald Staheli, and Zsuzsanna Mindszenty.
- Composition teachers include David Sargent, Stephen Jones, Murray Boren and Michael Hicks.
CHORAL WORKS & CONDUCTING
Taylor’s choral compositions, available through Choirworks.com, have been performed internationally and reflect both his formal vocal training and extensive experience on the conductor’s podium. As of June 2026, he is well on the way to completing a new, 34-movement oratorio on the writings of Paul, the apostle: A WITNESS OF CHRIST.
Taylor currently serves as conductor of the Timpanogos Singers, Timpanogos Youth Choirs, and Choirworks Radio Singers. Previously, he was Artistic Director and Conductor of The American Fork Children’s Choir for ten years, during which he completed Kodály certification as a developmental music education specialist through Brigham Young University’s Intermuse program. He has also served as Associate Conductor of the Timpanogos Chorale and has directed the American Fork Hillcrest Stake Choir, the Phoenix Rising Chamber Choir, and numerous congregational ensembles throughout his career. His conducting experience began as a student conductor at Fountain Valley High School in California.
As a vocalist, Taylor has performed with a wide range of distinguished choral ensembles, including Cantorum, Canticum Lucis, Phoenix Rising Chamber Choir, Timpanogos Chorale, BYU Concert Choir, Chapman College Chamber Singers, St. Wilfred’s Episcopal Choir, St. James Episcopal Choir, Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Choir, Orange County Youth Choir, Orange County Honor Choir, the FVHS Troubadours, and the FVHS Concert Choir.
COMMUNITY
A dedicated advocate for community arts, Taylor was a co-founder of the Salty Cricket Composers Collective in Salt Lake City, an organization that for more than a decade championed the performance of concert works by Utah composers. He also produced the Utah Mid-Winter Song Festival in partnership with the American Fork Arts Council (now the Timpanogos Arts Foundation) and, together with his wife Dixie, coordinated American Fork’s Concerts in the Park series for three seasons. Through concert production, arts leadership, and community partnerships, he continues to create performance opportunities for local musicians and foster the growth of the arts in his community.
OPERA & MUSICAL THEATER
Taylor’s first opera, Abinadi, was premiered, filmed, and broadcast by Brigham Young University in 2003. He followed this with The Other Wise Man, a one-act chamber opera based on the story by Henry Van Dyke, which he self-produced, directed, and performed in during productions mounted in 2006 and 2007. In 2013, he collaborated with composer and playwright Mark Stoddard, co-writing several songs for the musical Strangers in Nauvoo, which premiered in 2014. More recently, Taylor contributed songs to The Legends of Sleepy Hollow, a musical adaptation of Washington Irving’s classic tale created with playwright Jonah Ericson and produced by the Timpanogos Arts Foundation in 2022. In 2026, songs from his musical The Giant’s Heart were performed at the Harrington Center for the Arts’ New Theater Works Festival.
ART SONG
Taylor’s work in art song and vocal chamber music includes numerous song cycles and literary settings. Among his most recent projects is Seven Christmas Gifts (2021), a cycle of original Christmas carols. His Seven Shakespeare Songs premiered in 2019 at a concert of the Salty Cricket Composers Collective in Salt Lake City, with the composer accompanying himself on a Renaissance-style four-course guitar; a version for voice and piano was later premiered with pianist Heidi Rodeback in 2020 at If Music Be the Food of Love. Earlier collaborations include 3 Floors to the Grass, a collection of songs setting poems by ten contemporary Utah poets, created in partnership with the American Fork Arts Council Press. Other notable song cycles include Moon Songs, based on poems by Vachel Lindsay and recipient of the Vera Hinckley Mayhew Composition Award; A Light that Shames the Noonday Sun, premiered as part of Brigham Young University’s bicentennial commemoration of Joseph Smith; and All Heaven and It Was One Hour Old, a setting of Christmas poetry by Katherine Tynan. His works have been premiered by artists including Heather Chipman, Dwight Bigler, Lawrence Vincent, Scott Holden, Venicia Wilson, and Lynn Jemison-Keisker. Finally, awaiting a premiere, is Leafs from the Diary of an Old Soul, a song cycle based on the poetry of George MacDonald, whose writings profoundly influenced C. S. Lewis and generations of later authors.
VOCALIST
As a baritone, Taylor has performed leading roles in Così fan tutte, Tartuffe, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and his own operas, Abinadi and The Other Wise Man. His musical theater credits include Rev. Shaw Moore in Footloose, as well as roles in Damn Yankees, Fiddler on the Roof, Oliver!, A Christmas Carol, Cats, Les Misérables, and numerous other productions.
A frequent advocate for contemporary music, Taylor has performed and premiered works by living composers at the Utah Mid-Winter Song Festival and in concerts presented by the Salty Cricket Composers Collective. He was also a featured soloist at Brigham Young University’s Aaron Copland Centennial Celebration. As a concert soloist, he has appeared with the American Fork Symphony, Utah Premiere Brass, the Utah/Idaho Performing Arts Company, Draper Historic Theatre, and the Timpanogos Chorale, in addition to numerous community and civic events throughout Utah.
RECORDINGS
Taylor’s recordings include All Heaven and It Was One Hour Old, a Christmas-themed EP featuring soprano Venicia Wilson and pianist Lynn Jemison-Keisker, as well as the solo albums American Revolutions and Thirteen for Halloween, a collection of original songs for children and families. In addition to these releases, he has recorded and produced numerous original songs, arrangements, and vocal works, many of which are available through his YouTube channels and other online platforms.
UKULELE
Taylor founded the Utah Uke Fest in 2012, Utah’s first ukulele festival, which he organized annually for a decade. He also established The Happy Valley Ukes (formerly UFO HUM), a service-oriented ukulele ensemble for intermediate players that performs for community audiences and care facilities, as well as a separate ukulele youth ensemble. Through his Ukulele Bootcamp workshops, he has taught hundreds of students of all ages, and he is the author of numerous instructional ukulele books and resources available through UkulelePlay.com.
INVITATION
Across his work as a composer, conductor, performer, and educator, Taylor remains committed to creating music that is both artistically compelling and accessible to performers and audiences at many levels. He is actively interested in new collaborations with singers, ensembles, conductors, and arts organizations, and welcomes opportunities to develop new works, projects, and performances in partnership with others who share a commitment to meaningful musical storytelling and community engagement. Reach out via ryan@choirworks.com for inquiries on collaboration.