Tayloe Harding is the Head of the Department of Music, and Professor of Music at Valdosta State University as well as serving as Executive Director of the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra since 1997. A composer, Dr. Harding's works have received performances throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Japan and his compositions have received awards from Phi Beta Kappa, the Southeastern Composers' Symposium and Competition, and the Robin Cox Ensemble. He has received grants for new works and premiers from Meet the Composer, the National Endowment for the Arts, Lila Wallace-Readers' Digest Foundation, Philip Morris, Inc., and a variety of state and local agencies. Commissions for his new works have been received from the Amherst, Chicago and Ancia Saxophone quartets, the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra, Thamyris, the Atlanta Winds, the African-American Philharmonic Orchestra, the Atlanta Community Orchestra, the Arts Festival of Atlanta, the Fernbank Museum of Natural History, the Gainesville (FL) Civic Orchestra, Chorus and Ballet, and from numerous individuals and Universities. His has been a fellow of the Ragdale Foundation as well as of the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Hambidge Center, and the Atlantic Center for the Arts. A member of ASCAP, his works are published by Mareba Music, and Collected Editions, Ltd and are recorded on the ELF, Crest, GMEA, and Florida State, Old Dominion, and University of Montana labels. Dr. Harding and his wife Christine Carere Harding are very proud of their family, including children Maryel, Maddie, Chase, Mimi, and Grace.