She performs her (re)compositions of avian songs on violin along with her environmental field recordings and also rethinks pied butcherbird repertoire for other human instruments and voices.
Central to her compositional ethos is to celebrate avian achievements rather than adding human “improvements.” Her work confronts and revises the study of birdsong by adding the novel reference point of a musician’s trained ear. Her practice also takes in sound and radiophonic arts, all celebrating the aesthetic achievements of animals.
In addition to her recent double CD, Absolute Bird (ReR Records, London), she is author of Is Birdsong Music?: Outback Encounters with an Australian Songbird, Post Impressions: A Travel Book for Tragic Intellectuals, and a new book of notated songs of the pied butcherbird, Music from Another Species: Australian Birdsong Transcriptions, which will be released in May 2026.
A powerful affirmation of her artistic impact is that APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre’s recognised her and Jon Rose as ‘music visionaries’ in jointly awarding them the 2025 Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music. In this, her work was described as pioneering, deeply original, and grounded in a long term commitment to Australian sound worlds.
Taylor’s past research positions include at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the Institute for Advanced Study (Berlin), the Museum of Natural History (Paris), the University of Technology Sydney, and Macquarie University.
For more information, see www.hollistaylor.com, www.zoömusicology.com, www.flutelyrebird.com, www.piedbutcherbird.com, and www.piedbutcherbird.net.
