Ivars Taurins | Conductor
Equally at home conducting symphonic and choral repertoire, Ivars Taurins is the founding director of the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir, now celebrating its 44th season. He was also founding member and violist of the Tafelmusik Orchestra for its first 23 years. Under his direction, the choir has been praised for its clarity, nuance, and brilliance.
Principal Baroque Conductor of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra from 2001-2011, Ivars Taurins appears as guest director with orchestras and choirs across Canada, including the Edmonton, Victoria, Winnipeg, Regina, and Kitchener-Waterloo, and Okanagan Symphonies, Calgary and Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestras, Orchestra London, Symphony Nova Scotia, Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Thirteen Strings (Ottawa), Canadian Chamber Ensemble, Vancouver Chamber Choir, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Pro Coro Canada, Winnipeg Singers, Halifax Camerata Singers, Vancouver Cantata Singers, Early Music Vancouver, the Elora Festival Orchestra & Singers, and at the Festival International de Musique Baroque de Lamèque. In 2017, he directed the Cuban choir Schola Cantorum Coralina in Havana in a special concert celebrating the 85th anniversary of Glenn Gould’s birth and Canada’s 150th birthday.
Besides Ivars Taurins’ appearances with Tafelmusik, some recent highlights include directing Symphony Nova Scotia’s 2019 Mozart Festival, and Handel’s Messiah for Early Music Vancouver in December 2019, featuring the Pacific Baroque Orchestra and the Vancouver Cantata Singers. More recent engagements have included Messiah with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Australia in December 2024, and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra in October, 2025. Upcoming return appearances include the Okanagan Symphony, and Messiah with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.
Photo credit: Sian Richards
