Taylor Gonzales returns to the Denver Philharmonic as the associate conductor for the 2020–21 season. He also serves as the assistant conductor for the Lamont School of Music Symphony Orchestra at the University of Denver, where he is completing a Master’s Degree in Orchestral Conducting under the mentorship of Lawrence Golan.
Taylor graduated from the University of Puget Sound, where he studied piano performance and music education. During his time at Puget Sound, he performed with the Rainier Symphony and was also a featured soloist and conductor on the Jacobsen Recital Series. He has given concerto performances with the University of Puget Sound Symphony Orchestra and the Sunriver Music Festival Orchestra, and received an Honorable Mention in the Coeur d’Alene Young Artists Competition for his performance in 2017. Taylor is also the co-founder and former Music Director of the Puget Sound Concerto Orchestra.
Dedicated to studying the art of conducting, Taylor has attended numerous conducting workshops and masterclasses, including the Cascade Conducting Masterclass with Sarah Ioannides and the University of British Columbia Wind Conducting Symposium with Mallory Thompson. His primary conducting mentors include Gerard Morris, Brett Mitchell and Lawrence Golan.