Taylor Wallbank (Te Whānau-ā-Apanui) has completed his BMus (Hons) Classical Voice (1st), Master of Music and is currently undertaking a Master of Music in Advanced Opera Studies under the tutelage of Kristin Darragh.
He has placed 1st place in the Dame Malvina Major Waikato Aria Competition (2022), 1st place in the South Auckland Competition Recital/Aria (2023), 1st place in The Ronald Dellow Vocal Recital (2023) and recently placed 3rd place in the New Zealand Aria Competition. Taylor is a part of the Te Pae Kōkako Aotearoa New Zealand Studio Artist programme.
Taylor debuted his career at 18 as Le Remendado in Festival Opera’s Production of Carmen (2016). He has since performed the roles of Gastone in La Traviata for Festival Opera (2018), Spallanzani in The University of Waikato’s production Tales of Hoffman (2020), Rinnuccio and Gherardo for The University of Waikato’s production Gianni Schicchi (2022) and Monostatos with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in Festival Opera’s production of Die Zauberflöte (2023).
He has extensive experience as an oratorio soloist performing with Napier Civic Choir, Cantando Choir, Edgecumbe Choir, Bach Musica, and Scholars Baroque around Aotearoa for performances in Handels Messiah, Haydns Creation, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solenell, Durante’s Magnificat and Verdi’s Requiem.
Taylor has recently auditioned for The Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, USA to study with internationally renowned vocal coach and pedagogue Jack Livigni from 2024 in August.