Leo Taylor, M.M.

Biography 

Leo Taylor, instructor of percussion, began his position as principal percussionist of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra (SDSO) in the 2021-22 season. Additionally, he serves as principal timpanist with the West Michigan Symphony, appointed in 2019. Prior to these positions, Taylor was a percussionist with the Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra from 2019-21. He was an associate timpanist with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons, as well as associate percussionist for the 2017-18 season. Taylor has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and served as an extra timpanist/percussionist with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. He has shared the stage with Yo-Yo Ma, Jamey Haddad, Cyro Baptista, Michael Ward-Bergeman, Mark O'Connor, Zakir Hussain, Nadja Solerno-Sonnenberg, Aldo Lopez-Gavilan, Tessa Lark, Byron Stripling, among others. Taylor has performed with conductors Matthias Pintscher, Marin Alsop, Emil de Cou, Rafael Payare, Francesco Lecce-Chong, Gerard Schwarz and Edwin Outwater. During the centennial season with the SDSO, he had the opportunity to work closely with composers John Luther Adams, David M. Gordon and Malek Jandali on their respective world premier works. Taylor was the third-place winner of the Modern Snare Drum Competition in 2017 and runner up in 2018. Taylor's teachers include Vadim Karpinos, Edward Harrison, Eric Millstein, David Herbert, Matthew Decker, John Shaw, Eric Schweikert, Jeffrey Jones and Gerald Noble.