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Kent Keyboard Series: Conrad Tao premieres Adam Roberts’ Book of Flowers (Oct. 6)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Greeting pianist Conrad Tao after his Kent Keyboard Series recital on October 6 in Ludwig Recital Hall, I exclaimed, “What a marathon!” He gently corrected me. “Two marathons!”

Indeed, Sunday’s amazing, two-hour performance by the seemingly indefatigable pianist included not only the debut of Kent State composition professor Adam Roberts’ Book of Flowers — sixteen “character pieces” written for Tao — but also Claude Debussy’s formidable twelve Études, written in 1915.

The title of Roberts’ magnum opus is metaphorical. [Read more…]

Conrad Tao to premiere Adam Roberts’ Book of Flowers on Kent Keyboard Series

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by Daniel Hathaway

A new collection of solo piano miniatures by Kent State University composition professor Adam Roberts will be unveiled by its dedicatee, Conrad Tao, during his upcoming solo recital on the Kent Piano Series on Sunday afternoon, October 6, at 5:00 pm in Ludwig Recital Hall.

Book of Flowers is a collection of sixteen character pieces for piano. Roberts writes in his composer notes that “each piece aims to capture a particular energy, from the playful and rhythmic, to the fragile and breakable, to the brutal and ferocious.”

I arranged for a recent Zoom conversation with the composer and the pianist to learn more about the project. Adam Roberts was in his studio at Kent State, and Conrad Tao was on tour in Iowa.

Daniel Hathaway: How did Book of Flowers come about?

Adam Roberts: I don’t usually just write pieces randomly, but I had written a couple of miniatures and for a long time I had yearned to write a book of my own piano music to see if I could get my language into that form. [Read more…]

Conrad Tao shows power, influence of Rachmaninoff in dazzling performance at Severance Music Center (May 17)

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By Daniel Hathaway | Cleveland Classical

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — When the Italian harpsichord maker Bartolomeo Cristofori invented the piano in 1720, did he have any idea what his innovation might lead to 300 years later?

Did he imagine a future full of Mozart concertos, Schubert Lieder, Beethoven sonatas, or Liszt tone poems? Could he have believed that in 2024, a large audience would turn out in Reinberger recital hall at Severance Music Center to hear a concert of piano works by a famous Russian emigré interleaved with popular songs inspired by his tunes?

All of that has come to pass — and more. The Friday performance on May 17 featured the extraordinary Conrad Tao, who expertly curated and stunningly played a program of solo piano music by Sergei Rachmaninoff and composers who Tao said were influenced by his music. 

[Read more…]

Pianist Conrad Tao: “Power and Influence” of Rachmaninoff

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by Mike Telin

“One of the guiding features of this program was, let’s just have a celebration of melodies. And I love melody so much,” pianist Conrad Tao said.

On Friday, May 17 at 7:30 pm in Reinberger Chamber Music Hall at Severance Music Center, Tao will present “Power and Influence.” The program features music by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Billy Strayhorn, Stephen Sondheim, Robert Schumann, and Buddy Kaye. Capping off the evening, Cleveland Orchestra cellist Dane Johansen will join Tao in Rachmaninoff’s Cello Sonata. The recital is part of the Orchestra’s Mandel Opera & Humanities Festival. Tickets are available online. Click here to see the full Festival schedule.

I caught up with the pianist on Zoom and began our conversation by asking him about the inspiration behind his fascinating program.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra partners with pianist Conrad Tao for a sublime, noteworthy performance of John Adams’ ‘Century Rolls’ (Aug 5)

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This article was originally published on Cleveland.com  

by Daniel Hathaway

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — If Conrad Tao and The Cleveland Orchestra were being paid by the note for their mind-boggling performance of John Adams’ “Century Rolls” at Blossom Music Center on Saturday evening, the Musical Arts Association might well have flirted with bankruptcy.

The centerpiece of a program that included Sarah Kirkland Snider’s “Something for the Dark” and Jan Sibelius’s “First Symphony,” Adams’ 1997 work was inspired by the 20th-century technology that fueled player pianos and other musical devices, from street organs to mechanically bowed violins.

Slots punched onto long rolls of heavy paper fed through a playing mechanism, pneumatically activating levers that produced notes. While pianists have only ten digits at their disposal, you can punch as many slots into a paper roll as you have notes to play them, and superhuman feats become possible.

Not only possible but astonishing in such a live performance by human musicians as this one — perfectly coordinated by the cool-headed conductor David Robertson. [Read more…]

Pianist Conrad Tao returns to Blossom with Century Rolls

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by Mike Telin

Although Conrad Tao first performed John Adams’ Century Rolls in 2015 when he was 21, the pianist said that his history with the concerto goes back to when he was 11 — when, on the advice of his composition teacher Christopher Theofanidis, he listened to the Nonesuch recording with Emanuel Ax and The Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Christoph von Dohnányi. “I was like, ‘Wow, Adams wrote a piano concerto.’ I was so excited to discover that as a child, so this piece is quite special to me.”

On Saturday, August 5 at 7:00 pm at Blossom Music Center, Tao will perform Century Rolls with David Robertson and The Cleveland Orchestra. The program also includes Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Something for the Dark, and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 1. At 6:00 pm, Daniel Reith will lead the Kent Blossom Chamber Orchestra in Beethoven’s Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus, Gabriel Fauré’s Pavane, and Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1 “Classical.” Tickets are available online.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra: “Mozart in the Meadows” (July 11)

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by Peter Feher

It seems like every orchestra will be doing its version of Mozart in the great outdoors this summer, an old-fashioned program that has recently found new life. The combination of open-air venue, fewer musicians on stage, and repertoire at the ready seems to satisfy the pandemic equation.

Practical reasons aside, there aren’t many ensembles who can put together an all-Mozart evening as elegantly as The Cleveland Orchestra. [Read more…]

Cleveland Chamber Music Society:
Junction Trio in person & online

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by Jarrett Hoffman

When you think of famous, old-school musicians, a certain invincibility comes to mind, but also a distance. So it’s refreshing when today’s virtuosos not only match or exceed the abilities of their predecessors, but also reveal without any hint of pretense that they’re human.

That was my experience last week when I met over Zoom with the New York City-based Junction Trio, made up of violinist Stefan Jackiw, cellist Jay Campbell, and pianist Conrad Tao, who individually have all been awarded Avery Fisher Career Grants, to name just one of their honors.

The basis of our conversation was their upcoming program for the Cleveland Chamber Music Society: works by Beethoven, Charles Ives, and John Zorn which they’ll share in person at Saint Paschal Baylon in Highland Heights on Tuesday, May 11 at 7:30 pm, in addition to offering a free livestream (tickets and information here).

But they also provided a glimpse into the psychological and even the vulnerable side of performing. Perhaps there’s no better place to start than with the process of “auditioning” for a chamber music group.

[Read more…]

Conrad Tao with The Cleveland Orchestra: Barefoot is better (July 13)

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by Rory O’Donoghue

New research published in The New York Times last week touts the benefits of going barefoot, based on case studies in Kenya, but the scientists could have simply attended a Conrad Tao performance instead, and reached the same conclusion. The pianist bounded onstage with unshod feet at Blossom on July 13 to play Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with The Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Jahja Ling — and it was miraculous. [Read more…]

Tuesday Musical: pianist Conrad Tao at E.J. Thomas Hall (November 18)

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by Daniel Hathaway

TAO-ConradReplicating in concert form the format he developed for his recent CD, Pictures, the 21-year-old piano phenomenon Conrad Tao walked his audience through two musical galleries on Wednesday evening, November 18. The second half of Tuesday Musical’s Margaret Baxtresser Annual Piano Concert had already been curated by Modest Mussorgsky, who used paintings by Victor Hartmann to inspire his popular suite Pictures at an Exhibition. [Read more…]

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