Conrad Tao
Hyper-focused piano performances that bridge the gap between classical precision and modern restlessness. Intricate, intellectual, and deeply tactile.
Hyper-focused piano performances that bridge the gap between classical precision and modern restlessness. Intricate, intellectual, and deeply tactile.
Conrad Tao's music sounds like the inner workings of a brilliant, slightly caffeinated mind. It is piano music that refuses to be mere background noise, demanding attention through its sharp edges, crystalline clarity, and sudden shifts in temperament. While he possesses the technical mastery of a traditional virtuoso, his touch is distinctly modern: percussive, inquisitive, and often startlingly direct.
What sets Tao apart is his refusal to stay within the lines of the 'classical pianist' archetype. He treats the piano as a laboratory, exploring the tension between beautiful, impressionistic washes of sound and aggressive, almost industrial rhythmic patterns. There is a sense of intellectual curiosity in every note, as if he is deconstructing the history of the instrument in real-time while simultaneously pushing it toward a digital future.
Start with 'American Rage' to hear his most provocative and politically charged work, where the piano feels like a weapon of expression. If you prefer something more atmospheric, 'Voyages' offers a stunning look at how he connects the dots between the past and the present through a more fluid, dreamlike lens.
Conrad Yiwen Tao (born June 11, 1994) is an American composer and pianist and former violinist. Tao's piano and violin performances since childhood brought him early recognition at music festivals and competitions. At age 13, he was featured on the PBS TV series From the Top – Live from Carnegie Hall as violinist, pianist and composer. He won eight consecutive ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards. Among his compositions have been commissions by the New York Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Pacific Symphony and Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Among other honors, Tao is a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts, a Davidson Fellow Laureate and a Gilmore Foundation Young Artist. He was the only classical artist named by Forbes magazine in 2011 as one of the "30 Under 30" in the music industry. In 2012, Tao released a solo piano EP, The Juilliard Sessions: Conrad Tao Plays Debussy and Stravinsky, and a synthpop album, Eyelids. Several more albums have followed. Also in 2012, he was an Avery Fisher Career Grant awardee. He produced and hosted a three-night music festival, the UNPLAY Festival, in New York City in 2013. He was artist-in-residence for Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 2015/16 and Hong Kong Philharmonic in 2017.
Cassette uses generative AI to enrich its catalog. How we use AI →
