Conrad Tao (born June 12, 1994) is an American composer, pianist and violinist. Tao's piano performances since childhood brought him early recognition at music festivals, competitions and with symphony orchestras. He has been featured on the PBS TV series From the Top – Live from Carnegie Hall as violinist, pianist and composer. Critics have found promise in his early compositions, and he is an eight-time consecutive winner of the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award. He is a US Presidential Scholar in the Arts. Tao travels around the U.S. and abroad performing and attends the Columbia University–Juilliard School joint degree program.
Tao was born in Urbana, Illinois to Sam Tao, an engineer, and Mingfang Ting, a research scientist. Both parents were born in China and earned doctorates from Princeton University.[1] Tao gave his first piano recital at age 4 and gave his first concerto at age 8.[2] At the age of 9, Tao moved with his family (he has an older sister, Connie) to New York City, and he began studying in the Juilliard School's Pre-College Division.[3] He attends the Columbia University–Juilliard School joint degree program and studies piano with Yoheved Kaplinsky at Juilliard. He also studies composition with Christopher Theofanidis of Yale University. Tao is a 2011 Gilmore Foundation Young Artist.[4][5]
Tao is an eight-time consecutive winner of the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, since 2004.[2] The first piano concerto that he composed, The Four Elements, was first performed in 2007 by the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus, Ohio.[1] In 2004 and 2007 (live at Carnegie Hall) and 2011, Tao was featured on the PBS and NPR series From the Top as violinist, pianist and composer.[6][7][8] Tao was composer-in-residence for the 2009–10 season with Chicago’s Music in the Loft concert series. In reviewing a 2008 piano recital in Berkeley, presented by Cal Performances, where Tao gave the U.S. 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."[9] After hearing Tao play the premiere of his "Three Songs", the reviewer of The Washington Post called them "well-constructed miniatures exploiting different moods and textures on the piano. The juxtaposition was admirable; Tao made no bones about concealing his influences, with Debussy first and foremost. ... But influences aside, his compositional voice is not "derivative" at all; you can discern a clear, fresh imagination".[10]
Tao won the 2003 Walgreens National Concerto Competition (as a violinist) and has appeared as a piano soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Utah Symphony, San Francisco Symphony and Pacific Symphony, among others.[1][11] He performed at the Ravinia Festival in 2009.[12] The Wall Street Journal wrote of a 2008 concert: "In Mozart's dark-hued 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. The crossed-hand passages and rapid scale runs were performed with consummate ease."[1] Of a 2009 performance of Ravel's 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. ... Expressiveness came even more to the fore in the second movement. Never have I heard a left hand with such hypnotic affect, with right-hand legato melodies as smooth as a trip down the Seine."[13] The Los Angeles Times wrote of his 2011 performance with the Pacific: "In a dashing account of Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody, his attacks were crisp, with rhythmically tricky high-velocity passages cleanly articulated. ... Tao avoided sentimentality, his concentration drawing us into the composer’s spare and witty work as few virtuosos of any age can do."[11]
In 2011, Tao was named a US Presidential Scholar in the Arts, and the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts YoungArts program awarded him a gold medal in music.[14][2] Also in 2011, Tao was featured in the album and PBS Great Performances special Dream with Me with Jackie Evancho, as both a piano and violin soloist.[5] The New York Times praised Tao's performance of Chopin piano pieces while accompanying American Ballet Theatre dancers at a March 2011 gala at New York City Center.[15] In his Cliburn Concerts debut in Dallas, Texas, in September 2011, Tao was a last-minute replacement for ailing pianist Louis Lortie.[16] Tao "continually uncovered the energy and emotional underpinnings inherent in [the] music".[17]
Among other activities in late 2011, Tao led a Young Artists' program at The Kentucky Center.[18] He was named by Forbes magazine as one of the "30 Under 30" in the music industry in 2011.[19]