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Van Cliburn Concert Series: Conrad Tao

Music/Performance
Great Hall
This event has passed
HOLIDAY HOURS: Crystal Bridges will be closed December 25 (Christmas Day).
HORARIO POR DÍAS FESTIVOS: Crystal Bridges estará cerrado el 25 de diciembre (Navidad).

We invite you to join us for an evening of evocative performance by renowned pianist Conrad Tao. Set against the backdrop of the Great Hall and Crystal Bridges’ own natural setting, this latest installment of the Van Cliburn Concert Series is not one to miss. We hope to see you there.

$45 ($36/members, $10 students), register online or with Guest Services at (479) 657-2335.

Join via livestream, sign up for a reminder here.

Pianist Conrad Tao
Pianist Conrad Tao

Per the CDC’s updated guidelines, we are now requiring all guests ages 2 and up and staff to wear a face covering indoors and while attending outdoor programs, except while eating or drinking. Masks will be available upon entry for those who do not have one.

About the Artist

Conrad Tao

Conrad Tao has appeared worldwide as a pianist and composer and has been dubbed a musician of “probing intellect and open-hearted vision” by The New York Times. He is the recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and was named a Gilmore Young Artist—an honor awarded every two years highlighting the most promising American pianists of the new generation. As a composer, he was also the recipient of a 2019 New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award for Outstanding Sound Design / Music Composition for his work on More Forever, his collaboration with dancer and choreographer Caleb Teicher.

Conrad Tao has recently appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and Boston Symphony. In the  20-21 season, he was the focus of a series of concerts and interviews with the Finnish Radio Symphony, performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with Hannu Lintu and Andrew Norman’s Suspend with Sakari Oramo, live on television. While most performances in the 20-21 season were canceled due to the COVID epidemic, he appeared with the Cincinnati Symphony and Louis Langrée, and returned to the Seattle Symphony to perform Beethoven’s Concerto No. 4. Further invitations included the National Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. His creation with Caleb Teicher, More Forever, commissioned by Works & Process at the Guggenheim, was planned for tours across the US, including Dance Cleveland and Fall for Dance, Toronto. Tao and Teicher’s latest collaboration for Works & Process, Rhapsody in Blue, kicked off the Guggenheim’s return to in-person performances and was lauded by The New York Times as “monumental.” The duo also gave the inaugural virtual recital of the season for Concerts from the Library of Congress.

About the Piano

The beautiful grand piano played in this concert once belonged to the internationally acclaimed pianist Van Cliburn. The piano was donated to Crystal Bridges by Tommy Smith, Cliburn’s long-time partner.

Sponsored by

The Van Cliburn Concert Series Endowment Fund supported by Kelly and Marti Sudduth, Reed and Mary Ann Greenwood, Ellis and Kay Melton, Chip and Susan Chambers, Alice L. Walton. Special thanks to Tommy Smith and Steinway & Sons.