Mandolinist Frances Taylor began her career outside the world of music. Unable to find sufficient funding for her musical studies she pursued a career in writing, working and training as a local newspaper reporter. Today, despite the different direction her career has taken, she still writes professionally, reviewing music books for various specialist publications such as Classical Music.

Taylor began her musical studies on the violin and after journalism embarked upon a successful career in teaching the violin. Her first encounter with the mandolin came quite late, in her early twenties, when she heard the instrument for the first time and fell in love with its sound. From then onwards she devoted much of her time to the study of mandolin playing and its technique, as well as researching into its largely unexplored repertoire. Currently she is promoting early Italian music for one or two mandolins supported by a continuo of harpsichord and cello.

A pupil of the internationally acclaimed virtuoso mandolinist Ugo Orlandi, Taylor studied the Italian school of mandolin playing at Padua Conservatoire. In 1992 Taylor also gained a M.Mus in Performance and Related Studies from the University of London. It is believed that it is the first degree awarded in the UK that included mandolin performance as an integral part of the assessment.

Taylor has given solo recitals throughout the UK, including the first solo mandolin recital for 20 years at the Purcell Room, London in April 1990. She has undertaken concerto work with various orchestras including the Joensuu Symphony Orchestra in Finland (1986), and collaborated in concerts in Italy and Denmark. In addition Taylor has been much in demand during the last twelve years as a freelance orchestral player working with amongst others the orchestras of the Welsh National Opera, the Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet and the Royal Opera House.

An enthusiastic teacher of mandolin, Taylor has created a special project to introduce young people to the mandolin in which, with the help of private sponsorship, mandolins are purchased from Italy and loaned out to pupils wishing to study the instrument.