David Tayler received his B.A. in music and interdisciplinary studies from Hunter College and his M.A. and Ph.D. in musicology from the University of California at Berkeley, where he studied with Philip Brett, Richard Crocker, Alan Curtis, Daniel Heartz and Joseph Kerman.

He is a member of Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Director of the Bay Area Collegium Musicum and Ensemble Pandore. David has appeared with American Bach Soloists, Tafelmusik, the San Francisco Opera & Symphony, the Oregon Bach Festival and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra & Concerto Köln, among others, and has recorded over sixty discs for Magnatune, BIS, harmonia mundi, Koch International, ORF, Sony, Reference, Arabesque, BMG, RCA, Musica Omnia and Teldec.

As a specialist in the art song of the early seventeenth century he has performed in lute song recitals throughout Europe and the United States; he is guest conductor at the San Francisco Early Music Society Medieval & Renaissance Workshop.