Lyndon Johnston Taylor, is principal second violin with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Even though an unusually gifted and promising performer in the widely known Taylor family and string quartet, Lyndon enrolled at Atlantic Union College as a pre-med student and graduated with a chemistry major. Midway through medical school, he got a music teaching position at the University of Redlands which renewed his interest in music. He subsequently completed graduate degrees in music, including a DMA in violin at the Juilliard School of Music where he studied with noted teacher, Dorothy Delay.

Taylor accepted a position in the music department at La Sierra University as he finished his doctorate. On a whim, he auditioned for an opening in the second violin section of the LAP and won. When the principal chair opened, he successfully auditioned for it. In that position he now plays on the "Perkins" Stradivarius violin, one of three owned by the orchestra.

He was winner of the 2000 Adventist Alumni Achievement Award for the Arts. The award, which includes $2,500 to be given to the Adventist school of the recipient’s choosing, was given to La Sierra University where Taylor teaches. Taylor and his wife, Elizabeth Johnston, then decided to give a like amount to each of the six Adventist schools he had attended from elementary through graduate school.

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