Artist description Jennifer Tao first appeared as soloist with orchestra at age 10, and the following year won critical acclaim for her performance as soloist with conductor Arthur Fiedler, going on to win prizes in distinguished competitions including the Maryland International Piano Competition, the New York Young Artists in Recital and the Baldwin National Piano Competition. Selected as musical ambassador by the United States Information Agency, she toured throughout Europe, giving recitals and master classes. She has also collaborated with such noted conductors as Frederick Fennell, Clyde Roller, Paul Wolfe, and Gunther Schuller. New York appearances include Carnegie Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, The New York Historical Society, The New School, and Robert Sherman's Listening Room on WQXR. European venues include Philharmonic Hall in Lublin, Poland, the Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw, Poland and the Liceo Music Conservatory in Barcelona, Spain.

Music Style Concert pianist

Musical Influences Bach, Bartok, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Debussy, Mozart, Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky

Similar Artists Emanuel Ax, Arturo Michaelangelo Benedetti, Clara Schumann, Dame Myra Hess, Gina Bacchauer, Alicia dela Rocha, Martha Argerich

Artist History New York appearances include Carnegie Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, The New York Historical Society, The New School, and Robert Sherman's Listening Room on WQXR. European venues include Philharmonic Hall in Lublin, Poland, the Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw, Poland and the Liceo Music Conservatory in Barcelona, Spain.

Group Members Jennifer Tao

Instruments 9-foot concert grand piano

Albums Tao Piano: Eroica Classical Recordings. Medtner Fairy Tale in b-flat, Op. 20, No. 1 Beethoven Sonata in C Op 53 Waldstein. Ives "The Alcotts" from Sonata No 2 Concord, Mass, 1840-1860. Scarlatti Sonata in D K 491 L 164. Ravel Alborado del Gracioso from Minoirs. Liszt Au lac de Wallenstadt. Chopin Ballade No 1 in g Op 23.

Press Reviews JENNIFER TAO, PIANOAMERICAN RECORD GUIDE: May/June 1999Beethoven: Piano Sonata 21Chopin: Ballade IIves: The AlcottsLiszt: Au lac de WallenstadtMedtner: Fairy Tale in B-flat minor; Ravel: Alborada del GraciosoScarlatti: Piano Sonata in D, L 164Eroica 3015 (Jem) 58 minutes Although I’m inclined to admire any artist who shares jacket-photo spread with a cat, Jennifer Tao has more than exemplary taste in furry friends to commend her. This is evident immediately from the Medtner that opens the disc and impresses with Tao’s febrile and persuasive sense of rubato. Her tone is rich and unforced, with chordings that pile up sonorously in climactic passages. The Beethoven leaves a more equivocal impression, its opening ostinato uncertain and skittish. Though Tao’s fingerwork is generally fleet, the exposition unfolds in episodic and percussive fashion. The development section is more engaging, as the central motive cell chases its tail through the piano’s registers, building to an exciting, propulsive coda. The laconic slow movement unfolds fitfully, in short-breathed phrases. The finale does flow confidently and with a sense of grand design. The principal theme chimes brightly in Tao’s right hand, augmented with runs and trills, the sonata finishing in a charming scamper. It’s all rather "Waldstein meets Flight of the Bumblebee" but quite exciting.The Concord Sonata extract doesn’t lack for intensity, but one does miss the deep, legato stroke of Gilbert Kalish (Nonesuch). Also, in Tao’s hands, the reiterations of the motto from Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony—an Ivesian idee fixe—emerge with more clangor than majesty. The square accentuation of the Scarlatti is partly redeemed by Tao’s crystalline trills and voice-leadings, while the Ravel moves forward with a jagged, impatient undertow (which I like) and big washes of color. Liszt’s ‘Wallenstadt Lake’, scene of lotus-eating dalliances with Marie D’Agoult, laps beguilingly in Tao’s left hand. If the statement of the main theme is unromantically matter-of-fact, it subsides meltingly into the coda.Romanticism of the upper-case sort seems to be Tao’s bag, judging from the febrility that also marks her reading of the Chopin, particularly evident in the quiet passion of the B section. This erupts into volleys of runs, then manic accelerandos and a provocatively crazed reprise of the Ballade’s waltz tune. Ending with descending octaves of crushing finality, the coda owns the desperation that Chopin’s music demands. MCKEE

Location Santa Fe, NM - USA

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