Taylor Mackenzie Adams (she/her/hers)
Director of Outreach and Community Initiatives

Writer and soprano Taylor Adams believes that everyone deserves the right to education, and hopes to help increase the accessibility of training and opportunities for persons of all backgrounds within music academia. She became passionate about education accessibility and access, as well as equitable student services and support while serving as a peer facilitator at the Weinberg Institute for Cognitive Science. Taylor aims to always lend her voice and words to groups that represent missions of equitable opportunity. She is excited to be singing with the Detroit-based Sphinx Organization's choir, EXIGENCE, for the 2021-2022 season.

Not only does she love to sing the stories of others, Taylor has her own stories to tell and is a published fiction writer. A writer of both short fiction and extended works, she loves to explore the intersections of identity, fantasy, and the big "what if" of existence. Her praised piece, "Five Chapters, In Black" can be found in the Michigan Quarterly Review.

A true blue local of Ann Arbor, Michigan, Taylor attended the University of Michigan where she studied voice under Caroline Helton. She was the recipient of the Women Composers Prize at the 2018 George Shirley Vocal Competition. Adams was a featured soloist in Chamber Choir’s performance of The Little Match Girl Passion composed by David Lang and she sang Ma in the University’s production of Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up.

Although opera is Taylor's first love, she believes music is for everyone at all levels, that all genres are important, and actively sought to uplift music as an extracurricular. She served as President and Business Manager of the collegiate a cappella group DJs A Cappella, a competitive group that placed third (2018), second (2019), and first (2020) in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella quarterfinals, where Taylor received Outstanding Soloist in 2019 and was a member of the team that won Best Choreography in 2020.

In addition to her voice degree, Taylor received a B.A. in Cognitive Science. She was a LEAD Scholar, an eight-term James B. Angell Scholar, and inducted into the honor society, Phi Kappa Phi.