The Stamford Symphony invites you to catch a rising star on the classical music scene at our Stern Showcase Recital on Sunday, October 24th at 4:00pm. Fifteen-year-old American pianist, Conrad Tao, will perform works by Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt and Carl Vine.
The Stern Showcase will be held for the first time at the First Presbyterian Church in Stamford. Tickets are $28 per person, and are available by either calling 203 325 1407 x 10 or by contacting us at office@stamfordsymphony.org.
The Stern Showcase Recitals - featuring top young performers throughout the world -- were conceived and are supported by the family of Melvin Stern to celebrate his life and love of music.
Born in Illinois, pianist Conrad Tao showed an early interest in music and could be found playing children's songs at the piano at eighteen months of age. Tao began violin lessons at age three, and formal piano lessons six months later. He gave his first public piano recital at age four. At age eight, Tao made his concerto debut with the Utah Chamber Music Festival Orchestra and, at age ten, was featured on the national radio program "From the Top" as both pianist and composer. In September 2006, Tao was featured again on PBS's "From the Top - Live from Carnegie Hall" TV series as a violinist, pianist and composer. In 2008, Conrad Tao was named a Davidson Fellow Laureate by the Davidson Institute for Talent Development.
As a pianist, Tao has performed with many symphony orchestras throughout the United States, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Russian National Orchestra, among others. He has also given solo recitals at Juilliard's Paul Hall, Rockefeller University in New York City, Chicago's Music in the Loft concert series, the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, the National Center for the Arts in Mexico City, Mexico, and a pre-concert recital at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York. In his upcoming seasons, Conrad will be making debuts with the Symphony of the Americas as both violin and piano soloist, the Lexington Philharmonic, Santa Fe Pro Musica, and the Fort Worth Symphony under Miguel Harth-Bedoya, as well as return engagements with the Columbus ProMusica Chamber Orchestra and the California Symphony. He also makes recital debuts at the Harriman-Jewell Concert Series in Kansas City, UC Berkeley's Cal Performance Series, Ravinia Festival in Chicago, and the Louvre in France, among others.
As an accomplished composer, Conrad has won national prizes since the age of seven and his compositions have been featured on Chicago WFMT radio's 50th anniversary program and national public radio's "From the Top." At age ten, his piano composition, Silhouettes and Shadows, won the BMI Carlos Surinach Prize as the youngest winner of BMI's prestigious award for young composers in the Western Hemisphere. Conrad is a five-time consecutive winner of the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer award since 2004 and his composition, Sonata for Two Pianos, was featured at the 2004 award ceremony. He has given two composition recitals in New York City featuring eleven of his original compositions.
Conrad is currently enrolled in Juilliard's Pre-College Division and studies piano with Dr. Yoheved Kaplinsky and violin with Ms. Catherine Cho. He studies composition privately with Mr. Christopher Theofanidis in New York City. Conrad currently resides in New York City with his parents and sister.
Tickets for the Stern Showcase Recital are on sale now at www.stamfordsymphony.org, as well as by calling 203 325 1407 x10 or office@stamfordsymphony.org.
