Performer

CONRAD TAO, piano

Described as an artist of “probing intellect and open-hearted vision” by The New York Times, pianist Conrad Tao offers his unique perspective on Rachmaninoff, creating a direct line to the music of Billy Strayhorn, Harold Arlen, and Stephen Sondheim. Conrad explores the influence of Rachmaninoff and his gift for sweeping melodies, many of which have crossed into popular music and film. This solo piano program includes Rachmaninoff Preludes, excerpts from the composer’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, music from Stephen Sondheim’s Follies, Take the A Train by Billy Strayhorn, All by Myself by Irving Berlin, and an arrangement of Harold Arlen’s Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

Program

RACHMANINOFF Prelude in C Major, Op. 32, No. 1 Prelude in A-flat Major, Op. 23, No. 8 Prelude in G Major, Op. 32, No. 5
STRAYHORN Take the A Train SONDHEIM In Buddy's Eyes from Follies
SCHUMANN “Auf Einer burg” from Liederkreis, Op. 39 RACHMANINOFF Étude-Tableau in A Minor, Op. 39, No. 2 BERLIN All By Myself RACHMANINOFF Improvisation on Variation 15 from Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini ARLEN Somewhere Over the Rainbow (after Art Tatum) RACHMANINOFF Variation 18 from Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini STRAYHORN Lush Life RACHMANINOFF Daisies, Op. 38, No. 3 STRAYHORN Day Dream RACHMANINOFF Étude-Tableau in C Minor, Op. 33, No. 3

Tickets: Age 35+: $42 | 22-34: $20 | 21 & Under: Pay What You Wish.

Honorary Concert Sponsors: John and Susan Jackson

Cafe Nights Series Sponsors: Mazie Cox and Brinkley Thorne

Q&A with Pianist Conrad Tao

Though Conrad Tao began playing violin before age two, the piano was already his chosen instrument.

"According to my family, I started playing the piano on my own at the old Baldwin upright in our house when I was about 18 months old, picking out nursery tunes by ear. So, the piano was always the instrument that brought me towards music," Conrad says. "Violin lessons started because my parents had trouble finding a piano teacher willing to work with someone who was not yet two."

And so began the career of one of the great pianist-composers of our time (who listens to Bob Marley and Sade, by the way.). The 31 year old 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. But Conrad hasn't lost the whimsy and enterprising spirit of that little kid who acted on pure musical impulse. At his February recital, Conrad became the first person to play a computerized Lumatone keyboard in the vaunted reaches of Carnegie Hall.

"Tao, a phenomenal talent and a mighty creative force, had the brass to treat his first Zankel Hall recital as a work in progress rather than a meticulously packaged event. Positioning the two halves of Debussy’s dozen études as bookends, he fleshed out the middle of the program with his own improvisations, arrangements, and compositions, and a detour to the latest in electronic instruments," wrote Vulture. 

Conrad, the 2024 winner of Bay Chamber's prestigious Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award, will perform three concerts during Bay Chamber's 2025 Summer Concert Series, including the Andrew Wolf Memorial Concert on Thursday August 7 at 7 pm. The program features masterworks by Bach, Brahms, Bartók, and Liszt. Grace & Gesture follows on Friday August 8 at 5:30 pm. Conrad leads a quintet of performers in a program that includes Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Schumann. Conrad Tao's Rachmaninoff Playbook on Friday August 8 at 8 pm features pieces by the great composer as well as American popular music contemporaries such as Sondheim and Arlen. Links to tickets below.

To get to know Conrad a little better, we asked him about his beginnings in Urbana, IL, his composing process, his offbeat collaborations, Rachmaninoff, and more. 

Tell us about your earliest memory of playing music.

I started playing music so young that I don't actually remember starting. I do remember Suzuki violin lessons from when I was about three years old. Those are very happy memories of being in a group class with, like, 40 other kids scrubbing away.

What first led you to compose music and what inspires you today?

A few things come to mind: learning to read music at age three, listening to Mozart's fifth violin concerto at age five, taxi horns honking outside of my bedroom window at the age of nine, which I proceeded to put in a piece. Today, inspiration can come from anywhere: words, images, voice memos sung into my phone. There are certain moments in life, or states of mind, where the only thing that seems to make sense is music. And those are the places I try to preserve, that I take as inspiration, that I trust.

You’ve had some very interesting collaborations. One that stands out is your work with the dancer Caleb Teicher. You performed together on NPR and at numerous venues. How do tap dancing and piano work together? And how does Bach fit in?

The commonality between tap dancing and piano ended up being surprisingly clear. Both of us perform with these ostensibly percussive instruments that are often tasked with creating a sense of line. And we're both interested in the role of rhythm, the role of dynamics and energy in perception, the way meanings can fold on top of one another. This is where the collaboration originates from. As for tap dancing and Bach, well, who doesn't love Bach? And rhythm is a huge driver in Bach with the centrality of dance music in his work. Our duo recital is called Counterpoint, and so Bach is on our program as a representative of counterpoint, as is the rest of our work together, counterpoint between notation and improvisation, pulse and line, music and dance.

You will be performing a concert here on August 8 called Conrad Tao's Rachmaninoff Playbook, a performance that places works by the great composer next to pieces from The American Songbook and popular jazz that bear Rachmaninoff's influence. With one of the most instantly recognizable songs on the program, Harold Arlen's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," you show us how the musical influence went both ways. 

"Somewhere Over the Rainbow" here represents the sort of American songwriting happening at the time of Rachmaninoff's arrival in New York, but it's also on this program because I'm performing a transcription of pianist Art Tatum's 1953 recording of the piece. Tatum and Rachmaninoff crossed paths in New York, and in Tatum's musicianship I hear a rich sense of voice leading and pianistic invention that no doubt would have inspired Rachmaninoff. In Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, I think we can actually hear how good old Sergei was influenced by Tatum's playing.

Lastly, tell us what you're listening to these days.

I've been listening to Bob Marley because I've been very curious about reggae and how influential it was to many different artists that I love, musicians as diverse as Sade and (German techno duo) Basic Channel. So, I've been thinking about how pivotal Jamaica's music scene in the 20th century has been.