Conrad Tao is a pianist and composer celebrated for his boundary-defying artistry as well as his powerful performances of traditional repertoire. Described by New York Magazine as “the kind of musician who is shaping the future of classical music,” and praised by The New York Times for his “probing intellect and open-hearted vision,” Tao appears regularly as a soloist with leading orchestras and at major venues across the world.
In the 2025–26 season, Tao returns to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as both soloist and recitalist, performing Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with Karina Canellakis and later presenting a recital program featuring Gershwin song arrangements alongside works by Schoenberg, Strayhorn, Schumann, and others. Recital highlights include debuts at Berlin’s Philharmonie and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, as well as returns to Klavierfestival Ruhr, and to the Celebrity Series of Boston, and the Seattle Symphony with Poetry and Fairy Tales, a program blending works by David Fulmer, Rebecca Saunders, Todd Moellenberg, Brahms, and Ravel.
Tao reunites with Robert Spano for performances of John Adams’ Century Rolls (San Diego Symphony) and Bernstein’s The Age of Anxiety (Atlanta Symphony). He also joins Matthias Pintscher and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin for Pintscher’s NUR, and travels to Tokyo to perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17 with the NHK Symphony and Jaap van Zweden. He makes his harpsichord debut at Princeton University in Patricia Kopatchinskaja’s Dies Irae.
Recent highlights include his return to Carnegie Hall with Debussy’s 12 Études and his original composition Keyed In, as well as appearances with the San Francisco Symphony and Nicholas Collon, Philadelphia Orchestra and Marin Alsop, Boston Symphony and Dima Slobodeniouk, New York Philharmonic and Jaap van Zweden, and Cleveland Orchestra and Jahja Ling. In 2024, he also toured Europe with the Kansas City Symphony and Matthias Pintscher to mark the 100th anniversary of Rhapsody in Blue, with sold-out performances at the Elbphilharmonie, Berlin Philharmonie, and Concertgebouw.
Tao continues performing his own works, including Flung Out, an homage to Gershwin, which he played recently at the Aspen Festival, and The Hand, a companion to Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1, which was commissioned and performed by the Kansas City Symphony. His orchestral work Everything Must Go premiered with the New York Philharmonic and later in Europe with the Antwerp Symphony. He also tours Counterpoint, his collaboration with dancer Caleb Teicher, and performs regularly with the Junction Trio alongside Stefan Jackiw and Jay Campbell. Additional recent collaborators include vocalist Charmaine Lee, artist Avram Finkelstein, choreographer Miguel Gutierrez, and brass quartet The Westerlies.
Tao’s acclaimed recordings include Voyages, Pictures, and American Rage (all on Warner), as well as the loser by David Lang, and Bricolage with The Westerlies.
He is a recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Gilmore Young Artist Award, and a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award for his collaboration with Caleb Teicher on More Forever.