Peter Mercer-Taylor is a Professor of Musicology at the University of Minnesota. His work has been divided between the 19th-century German classical tradition—Felix Mendelssohn in particular—and contemporary popular music, including the work of the Bangles, Bill Staines, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, and R.E.M.
Mercer-Taylor has spoken at numerous conferences and symposia, been heard on NPR, BBC Radio 2, and Minnesota Public Radio, and can regularly be found giving talks for musical organizations in and around Minneapolis (Minnesota Opera, Minnesota Orchestra, the Oratorio Society of Minnesota, and others). His academic articles have appeared in a range of journals, including 19th-Century Music, Popular Music, Journal of the Society for American Music, Musical Quarterly, Music & Letters, Music Theory Spectrum, and Journal of Musicology. He is the author of The Life of Mendelssohn (Cambridge University Press) and the editor of The Cambridge Companion to Mendelssohn.
Mercer-Taylor lives in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, with his wife, Beth.
