ConradTao
- Piano
About Conrad
Pianist and composer Conrad Tao has been dubbed “the kind of musician who is shaping the future of classical music” by New York Magazine, and an artist of “probing intellect and open-hearted vision” by The New York Times.
Conrad's 2024/25 season includes a return to Carnegie Hall in recital performing Debussy's 12 Études, alongside Keyed In, a work arranged and improvised by Tao on the Lumatone. He also returns to the San Francisco Symphony to perform Tchaikovsky with Nicholas Collon, the Dallas Symphony to perform Mozart with Jaap van Zweden, the St Louis Symphony to perform Saint-Saëns with David Danzmayr, and the Baltimore Symphony to perform Mozart with Jonathon Heyward. Further appearances include the Indianapolis Symphony's opening Gala, as well as performances with the Seoul Philharmonic, and NDR Hannover with Ingo Metzmacher. He also continues his collaboration with award-winning dancer Caleb Teicher in a nationwide US tour.
In the 2023/24 season, Conrad made his subscription debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and re-united with the New York Philharmonic following summer appearances and his specially curated programme for their Artist Spotlight series. Meanwhile, he celebrated Rachmaninov’s 150th anniversary with recitals presented by the Cleveland Orchestra and Klavierfestival Ruhr. The season also saw performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Marin Alsop, and the Boston Symphony and Dima Slobodeniouk, as well as performances celebrating the 100th anniversary of Rhapsody in Blue at the Philharmonie Berlin, Elbphillharmonie Hamburg, and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam with Matthias Pintscher and the Kansas City Symphony. His companion piece to Gershwin’s Rhapsody, Flung Out, was commissioned by the Santa Rosa Symphony, Aspen Music Festival, and Omaha Symphony.
In recent years, Conrad has been the subject of a special focus with the Finnish Radio Symphony and the Swedish Radio Symphony, both of whom have presented him over multiple concerts. He has also performed with the Orchestra Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under both Orozco-Estrada and Antonio Pappano. As a composer, his work has been performed by orchestras throughout the world; his first large scale orchestral work, Everything Must Go, received its world premiere with the New York Philharmonic and its European premiere with the Antwerp Symphony.
Conrad was the recipient of a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award for Outstanding Sound Design / Music Composition for his work on More Forever, in collaboration with dancer and choreographer Caleb Teicher. He is also the recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and was named a Gilmore Young Artist.
Representation
European management with Askonas Holt
Partner Managers:
Opus 3 Artists (general management)
Season Highlights
Photos
Selected Repertoire
Adams
Century Rolls
Bartok
Piano Concerto No.3
Beethoven
Piano Concerto No.1, Op.15 • Piano Concerto No.4, Op.58 • Piano Concerto No.5, Op.73
Bernstein
Age of Anxiety
Brahms
Piano Concerto No.1, Op.15
Chopin
Piano Concerto No.1, Op.11
Gershwin
Piano Concerto in F major • Rhapsody in Blue
Liszt
Piano Concerto No.1 in E-flat major
Mendelssohn
Piano Concerto No.1, Op.25
Mozart
Piano Concerto No.9 in E-flat major, K.271 • Piano Concerto No.12 in A major, K.414 • Piano Concerto No.17 in G major, K.453 • Piano Concerto No.19 in F major, K.459 • Piano Concerto No.20 in D minor, K.466 • Piano Concerto No.21 in C major, K.467 • Piano Concerto No.22 in E-flat major, K.482 • Piano Concerto No.23 in A major, K.488 • Piano Concerto No.24 in C minor, K.491 • Piano Concerto No.25 in C major, K.503
Norman
Suspend
Prokofiev
Piano Concerto No.1, Op10 • Piano Concerto No. 2, Op.16 • Piano Concerto No. 3, Op.26
Rachmaninoff
Étude-tableau in A Minor, No. 2, Op.39 • Piano Concerto No. 2, Op.18 • Piano Concerto No. 3, Op.30 • Piano Concerto No. 4, Op 40 • Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op.43
Ravel
Piano Concerto in G major, M.83
Schumann
Piano Concerto, Op.54
Shostakovich
Concerto in C minor for Piano, Trumpet and Strings, Op.35
Tao
An Adjustment • Companion piece to Beethoven Piano Concerto No.1, Op.15 • Flung Out (companion piece to Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue) • The Oneiroi in New York • Spoonfuls
Tchaikovsky
Piano Concerto No.1, Op.23
Sample Programmes
Brahms: Klavierstücke, Op. 118 I. Intermezzo David Fulmer: I have loved a stream and a shadow (With glitter of sun-rays, Nor with stars stretched, nor looking back from heaven) I. Brahms: Klavierstücke, Op. 118 II. Intermezzo III. Ballade IV. Intermezzo Rebecca Saunders: Mirror, mirror on the wall Brahms: Klavierstücke, Op. 118 V. Romanze — intermission — Todd Moellenberg: Leg of Lamb (after Bernadette Mayer) David Fulmer: I have loved a stream and a shadow II. — III. Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit Ondine Le gibet Scarbo Brahms: Klavierstücke, Op. 118 VI. Intermezzo
Debussy: Etudes Book I Tao: Improvisation for Lumatone Arlen/Tatum: Over the Rainbow (trans. Conrad Tao) Tao: Keyed In Schumann: Auf einer Burg (arr. Conrad Tao for Lumatone) Debussy: Etudes Book II
News
Press
Cleveland Orchestra presents Conrad Tao in recital
Severance Music Center, ClevelandMay 2024The extraordinary Conrad Tao expertly curated and stunningly played a program of solo piano music by Sergei Rachmanioff and composers who Tao said were influenced by the great Russian pianist’s music.
- cleveland.com
- 18 May 2024
Chicago Symphony, Gershwin Concerto in F Major conducted by James Gaffigan
Chicago Symphony HallOct 2023 - Oct 2023For a new vista on fun, run, don’t walk, to this weekend’s Chicago Symphony concerts, conducted by James Gaffigan. They’re exhilarating, life-affirming, ecstatic and erudite. Thank Conrad Tao for that… From Tao’s very first entrance, it was clear listeners were in the presence of a creative supernova… face-melting virtuosity, profundity and invention.
La Jolla Music Society SummerFest
The Conrad, La JollaAug 2023Conrad Tao is a magical pianist, with a scholar’s mind wrapped in an almost impossible technique. Alternatively ecstatic, logical, monstrous, his playing conveyed all the complexity and terror of the work, set into relief through an unflinching attention to every disturbing detail and an unflagging musical stamina.
- San Diego Tribune
- 28 August 2023
Cleveland Orchestra, John Adams' Century Rolls conducted by David Robertson
Blossom Music CenterAug 2023A sublime noteworthy performance... (Tao) doesn’t just play every rhythmic motif from jagged punches to sublime bits of melody, but truly embodies them.
- cleveland.com
- 09 August 2023
Profile of Conrad Tao in The New York Times
Nov 2019Conrad Tao was never just another prodigy.
- The New York Times
- 15 November 2019
