Submitted by Dave McTamaney 1964 <davemct@me.com> on 04/Jun/2019 108.75.157.246
Richard V. Taylor was born in Newburgh on January 1, 1947, the son of James M. and Marion Hall Taylor. In NFA, Richard was very involved in music, and was in Bach, Glee, Octette, Madrigals and A Capella throughout his time there. From an on-line biography of Richard, we learn that after graduation from NFA in 1964, he began his career at 19 as a Resident Artist with the Tri-States Opera in Binghamton, New York. In 1974 he became New York City Opera's youngest leading tenor. He spent five years there singing more than 100 performances of twenty leading roles. From 1974-1979, he appeared regularly as a guest artist throughout the United States. Then in 1979, his career took an amazing turn when he spent his summer vacation playing with his first personal computer. To the surprise of many of his fellow artists, he became a published author of commercial timesharing software, and soon was the president of an international retail computer corporation. But in 1990, he was hired by the Chicago Symphony's newly appointed Music Director as the tenor soloist for performances of The Verdi Requiem with the Munich Philharmonic. Since then he performed not only throughout the United States, but around the world as well, from Vancouver, to Berlin. His last residence was in Union City, New Jersey. Richard's older brother James M. Taylor Jr. graduated from NFA in 1959 and passed away in 2014. We know from his obituary that James had several children, who would be Richard's nieces and nephews. James's long -time companion was Lou Ann Rafferty Allen, who graduated with our class in 1964 and was able to share some of the information we now have about Richard.
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NFA Class Memorial Page
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Richard V. Taylor was born in Newburgh on January 1, 1947, the son of James M. and Marion Hall Taylor. In NFA, Richard was very involved in music, and was in Bach, Glee, Octette, Madrigals and A Capella throughout his time there. From an on-line biography of Richard, we learn that after graduation from NFA in 1964, he began his career at 19 as a Resident Artist with the Tri-States Opera in Binghamton, New York. In 1974 he became New York City Opera's youngest leading tenor. He spent five years there singing more than 100 performances of twenty leading roles. From 1974-1979, he appeared regularly as a guest artist throughout the United States. Then in 1979, his career took an amazing turn when he spent his summer vacation playing with his first personal computer. To the surprise of many of his fellow artists, he became a published author of commercial timesharing software, and soon was the president of an international retail computer corporation. But in 1990, he was hired by the Chicago Symphony's newly appointed Music Director as the tenor soloist for performances of The Verdi Requiem with the Munich Philharmonic. Since then he performed not only throughout the United States, but around the world as well, from Vancouver, to Berlin. His last residence was in Union City, New Jersey. Richard's older brother James M. Taylor Jr. graduated from NFA in 1959 and passed away in 2014. We know from his obituary that James had several children, who would be Richard's nieces and nephews. James's long -time companion was Lou Ann Rafferty Allen, who graduated with our class in 1964 and was able to share some of the information we now have about Richard.