Alex Taylor

Alexander Lawther Taylor (born 1988) is a New Zealand composer, poet and writer.

Early life and education Taylor was born in 1988 and attended Westlake Boys High School. At the University of Auckland he studied music and English. He was supervised by Eve de Castro-Robinson and John Elmsly.

Career Taylor sings and plays several instruments: piano, violin and saxophone. He lists the 20th and 21st century composers and musicians who have influenced him as: Europeans Anton Webern, György Ligeti and Gérard Grisey, Americans Charles Ives, Morton Feldman, Annea Lockwood and Conlon Nancarrow; New Zealanders Anthony Watson, Samuel Holloway and Eve de Castro-Robinson.

Taylor also writes poetry and specialises in setting words to music. It features viola and cor anglais solos. As at 2026 he is teaching Theory and Composition at the Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts, Illinois State University.

Awards and honours In 2012 Taylor won the SOUNZ Contemporary Award at the APRA New Zealand awards for [inner]. He was the youngest person to receive the award. For John Cage Sym phony; Industrial popping sounds How to listen to a piece of music Close [t/d]; Park bench; Outside, a cold day

Articles "Strange loops : circular narratives and ambivalence in Samuel Holloway’s “Impossible Songs.”" Canzona, 2009; v.30 n.51, 32–37 "A discourse around music." Applause (Wellington, N.Z.), Nov 2016; n.22, 16–17

Music Four landscapes (2008) – for string quartet [inner] (2011) – a mini viola concerto Study of two pears (2011) – a song cycle for mezzo-soprano and chamber ensemble Burlesques mecaniques (2012) – for piano trio Feel (2012) – for full orchestra two years later (2013) – for male voice choir Horn concerto : hydraulic fracture (2015) – for horn and orchestra a summoning (2016) – for concert band Four little pieces (2017) – for cello and piano Night (2018) text by H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), 'Night' from her 1916 collection Sea garden Assemblage (2019) – for orchestra with painting machine On what grounds (2021) – a suite for violin, cello and theorbo Asymptote (2021) – for piano trio Obtuse strategies (2023) – for piano