Alumnus Conrad Tao performs with Grant Park Symphony
July 2nd, 2019
July 24, 2019
Music Institute of Chicago alumnus Conrad Tao will perform Shostakovich's Piano Concerto no. 2 with the Grant Park Orchestra July 31. Tao studied piano with the late, Emilio del Rosario as well as composition with Matthew Hagle and violin with former MIC violin faculty Desiree Ruhstrat. Only 24, Tao has already performed with leading orchestras around the world and is a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts, a Davidson Fellow Laureate, and an Avery Fischer Career Grant awardee. Cited by the New York Times as "one of five classical music faces to watch” in the 2018-19 season, he is also a Gilmore Young Artist—an honor awarded every two years to the most promising American pianists of the new generation.
In addition to his concerto performance with the Grant Park Orchestra, Conrad will lead a free Visiting Masters master class at the Chicago Cultural Center in the Claudia Cassidy Theater on Tuesday, July 30 at 5:30 p.m. Currently a scholarship Fellow in the Music Institute’s Academy for gifted pre-college musicians, 16-year-old Yerin Yang is one of the featured students participating in the class. In addition, MIC student Clara Zhang, age 12, will participate. She is an active pianist and chamber musician and studies with Dr. Soo Young Lee.
Read the Grant Park Symphony Spotlight Feature: Piano Virtuoso Conrad Tao returns home >>