2026 Summer Choral Festival
Featuring the American premiere of Taylor Scott Davis’s Requiem
with full orchestra
Quintessence presents our 14th Annual Summer Choral Festival! This weeklong event is open to singers high-school age through adult, and includes rehearsals, workshops, voice lessons, and other events.
Festival singers will perform the US premiere of Taylor Scott Davis's Requiem with orchestra on Sunday, July 19, under the direction of Matthew Greer.
FESTIVAL REGISTRATION
Early bird registration fee is $250. (Price will increase to $275 on May 1!)
Student registration fee (high school or older) is $125.
High school and college-aged singers are encouraged to apply for the Scholars Chamber Chorus! Accepted applicants receive free registration to the festival. Click here for more information.
We have a special discount for music educators! Write to Abby Greenwald for more information.
Click the button below for schedule information, and to register!
Click the video above to hear a movement of Taylor Scott Davis's Requiem, performed by the VOCES8 Foundation Chorus and Orchestra.
Recent premieres of Taylor’s works have been at Carnegie Hall (Magnificat), Sydney Opera House (Effortlessly), the Barbican, and Cadogan Hall (A Mosaic Mass). This current season includes further premieres at Sydney Opera House (by Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and Sydney Symphony) and twice at Carnegie Hall including Taylor’s The Poetry of Psalms which he’ll conduct himself. BBC Scottish Symphony gave the Scottish premiere of Magnificat to close Sir James MacMillan’s Cumnock Tryst festival this autumn. To Sing of Love will receive its concert world premiere and the Requiem its US premiere. Taylor will appear conducting, speaking and leading masterclasses as Composer-in-Residence across many choral institutions in the US and Europe in this upcoming season.
When not writing or conducting, Taylor Scott Davis serves as the Director of Music and Worship Arts at St. Andrew Methodist Church in Plano, Texas. He is a 2003 graduate and notable alumnus of Centenary College of Louisiana. Taylor earned a Bachelor of Sacred Music degree while studying conducting with Dr. Julia Brasher Thorn, as well as intensive courses with Dr. Sandra Willets, Dr. Ann Howard Jones, Paul Oakley, Alice Parker, and Jane Marshall. He has also studied composition with Dr. Eric McIntyre, Ms. Parker, and Ms. Marshall.
ABOUT TAYLOR SCOTT DAVIS
Hailed by the Wall Street Journal as penning “dreamy vocal lines” that “overlap and intensify to stunning effect”, Taylor Scott Davis is much in demand by both orchestras and vocal groups around the globe. His music has been described as “sonically luxurious”, memorable and inspiring of hope, and his belief in supporting collaboration, diversity and creating musical opportunities at all levels underpins all. From “full filmic blockbuster technicolour” to soulful and glorious orchestral textures and melodies, Taylor’s music has a unique and timely voice.