Conrad Tao
[11] In reviewing a 2008 piano recital in Berkeley, where Tao gave the US premiere of his "Fantasy-Sonata", the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: "The four movements of the piece tumble forth in a way that supports its hybrid title, suggesting both a free flow of ideas and an overarching structural framework.
There are melodies for the ear to grab onto – especially in the slow movement, set against rippling left-hand accompaniment – and Tao varies and subverts them with glee; the intermezzo, with its spidery octave figures, is a little gem of sardonic wit.
[4] At the 2007 Festival del Sole, the 13-year-old Tao substituted for the ailing Italian pianist Fabio Bidini to play Serge Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No.
20 in D Minor, Mr. Tao showed appealing freshness in his use of telling, expressive details that distinguish one interpretation from the next – a slight decrescendo here, a change of tonal color there, a heartfelt response to the piece.
[19] Of a 2009 performance of Ravel's Piano Concerto in G Major, the San Francisco Classical Voice commented: "The first movement was full of thrills: laser-sharp articulation and accuracy, powerful glissandos ... and, what's more, heartfelt expression.
"[20] Tao studied piano with Yoheved Kaplinsky and Choong Mo Kang at Juilliard and composition with Christopher Theofanidis of Yale University.
[15][16] He also studied for six summers at the Aspen Music Festival and School from 2004 to 2009, mostly playing violin, which he believes has helped him to develop "an understanding of the dynamic between orchestra and soloist.
[28] In the summer of 2010, Tao returned to the Aspen Music Festival as a guest artist to fill in on short notice as a piano soloist for an ailing Jeffrey Kahane.
[23][35][36] In his 2011 Cliburn Concerts debut in Dallas, Texas, Tao was again a last-minute replacement,[37] where he "continually uncovered the energy and emotional underpinnings inherent in [the] music".
[84] He returned to Weill Recital Hall in October for his third annual "A Piece for Peace" concert, playing works by Getty, Monk and Ravel.
[118][123] He returned to the Aspen Music Festival to play several programs that included Schumann's "Carnaval", Poulenc's sextet for piano and wind, and Beethoven's Fantasia in C minor.
Inspired by Tao's experiences with depression, An Adjustment combines "in the most imaginative way the current style of spiritual post-Romanticism and '90s techno club music.
[131] With the Tucson Symphony Orchestra in Arizona, he performed Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm" Variations, Rhapsody in Blue and Copland's Suite from "Billy the Kid".
Later in 2017 he made his Lincoln Center recital debut, where he received an Emerging Artist Award,[162] and returned to Berkeley to play Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody and Liszt's "Totentanz"[163] He wrote an encore, "All I Had Forgotten, Or Tried To", inspired by Kevin Killian's collection of erotic fiction, Impossible Princess.
[188][189] Rick Schulz of the Los Angeles Times wrote of a concert by the 16-year-old Tao: "In a dashing account of Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody, his attacks were crisp, with rhythmically tricky high-velocity passages cleanly articulated.
7, Justin Davidson wrote in New York Magazine: "No 17-year-old should be able to do justice to one of the most bleakly adult pieces in the literature, yet he played it with aggressive charm and flashes of genuine wisdom.
The opening ... an expansive toccata-like solo flight, provided the perfect stage to announce a pianist of formidable technique, acute sensibility and excellent training.
"[46]At the 2012 Aspen Music Festival, Tao "delivered the most arresting performance, attacking [Gershwin's] Second Rhapsody with a lethal combination of power, rhythmic thrust, technical perfection and sheer joy.
"[191] Larry Lapidus of The Spokesman-Review called the five concerti "a richly rewarding – indeed, unforgettable – musical experience" noting, that "Tao played the lengthy and difficult Concerto No.
"[92] Margaret Sandresky of the Winston-Salem Journal commented of his Rachmaninoff Rhapsody: "Tao ... realized with ease both the prodigious technical difficulties and the many varied expressive demands of the piece, leading the orchestra players on a merry chase as the difficult passage work streamed from his fingers like mercury.
[104] Of his Rachmaninoff Rhapsody, Gregory Sullivan Isaacs of TheaterJones judged that Tao "displayed impeccable technique ... clean and crystal clear, bordering on brittle.
21 in 2015, according to Matt Palm of the Orlando Sentinel, "Tao's energetic work blended seamlessly with his fellow musicians to create both elegance and exuberance.
"[111] Scott Cantrell of The Dallas Morning News called Tao's Aaron Copland piano sonata "gripping ... finely timed and layered, but the rhythmic quirks of the scherzo would have been set in higher relief at a marginally slower pace", and thought of his Rachmaninoff Études-Tableaux, Op.
She noted: Tao has a trick of subtly emphasizing bass lines and syncopations in a way that sounds fresh yet organic, never forced or overblown.
Rather than letting the music be overly sentimental, rendering it a torrent of rage, Tao illustrated its volatile, bipolar personality with an unusual level of clarity and dryness.
"[146] Another reviewer thought that, in his rendition of Rhapsody in Blue, Tao "bent the rhythms at times, showing his mastery of jazz style without disturbing his rapport with the accompanying [Asheveille Symphony] orchestra.
He found connections and bridges that I had been unaware of, observed pauses that emphasized the importance of silence in the midst of music, and generally convinced the audience that this was a performance to remember.
It was fascinating, though, to hear Mr. Tao draw out every dissonance-statured, vehement element of [Copland's piano] sonata while also bringing affecting tranquillity to the pensive conclusion of the last movement.
[192][193] Justin Davidson wrote of this album, "he plays his confidently poetic Three Songs, which hold their own with a pair of Debussy preludes and Stravinsky's Three Movements from Petrushka.
... [W]hat's going to matter ... to listeners is what he makes them feel – and on Voyages, the pianist journeys along varied and alluring pathways, from the dreamy contemplation of the Ravel "Ondine (Wave)" movement to the jaggedly darting "upon being" section from his Vestiges.
