In Friday’s (9/6) Denver Post, Ray Mark Rinaldi writes, “At 19, Conrad Tao has entered the classical-music industry’s post-prodigy phase. He’s no longer the child wonder who amazed audiences performing beyond his years as guest soloist with the country’s best orchestras, and he’s through playing the role.… And so it is the work that is taking on the most meaning for him these days: school at Columbia University, developing a recording career, composing and playing grown-up gigs, like his job as the featured performer with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra on Sept. 13.… Still, he’s an odd fit in the classical establishment, an outlier of sorts, openly criticizing the way things get done. If classical music is losing its place in the culture, Tao is quick to blame the hand that feeds him—the orchestras and concert halls that present the same sort of concerts year in and year out. ‘Presenters like to say that there’s no demand and there’s no audience for anything outside of what’s already happening, and that mentality just plays to the status quo, which is absolutely poisonous to any sort of cultural industry or any cultural practice,’ he said.… ‘The crucial thing is trying to create a meaningful tension between the experimental scene and the traditional view.… The best stuff happens when there’s a tension, otherwise it’s very easy to fall into complacency.’ ”
Posted September 9, 2013
Conrad Tao photo by Lauren Farmer
