He was born in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1985 and grew up in Toronto, where he attended Etobicoke School of the Arts (Music) and studied guitar and violin. Taylor has studied orchestration with John Rea and composition with Brian Cherney, Denys Bouliane, Françoise Paris, Ana Sokolovic, Jean Lesage, and Sean Ferguson. He also spent two months of intensive study in Kolkata, India, with internationally acclaimed Hindustani musician Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya. Taylor has participated in two international composition festivals, Domaine Forget New Music Week and the National Arts Centre of Canada's Young Composers Programme, and Quatour Bozzini's Composer's Kitchen, working with excellent ensembles such as the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, the Orchestre Francophonie Canadienne, and Quatour Bozzini.