pianist, composer / ePhemeral dumping ground
• Q+A CONRAD TAO
here is the music video for “iridescence,” which is on my forthcoming full-length debut album with EMI Classics, Voyages.
“iridescence” is inspired by fractured light. it uses the Reactable Mobile iPad app, which has pre-programmed melodic sequences fed into an oscillator and also live processes the sound of the piano through the iPad’s built-in microphone. this live performance of the piece was recorded at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, and it was filmed by Dean Peterson.
you can pre-order Voyageson iTunes and receive an immediate download of “iridescence” here.
Anonymous asked: How do you manage to balance music and other stuff in college and still manage to be a great pianist?
i average about five hours of sleep.
in all seriousness, it’s a lot to juggle, and i try not to make any statements to the contrary. at the same time, it’s not terribly different from, say, being really into mock trial or debate or student government or any other extracurricular thing. it’s not that much more time-consuming than working an off-campus job or internship, or doing two work studies, or being part of various student organizations.
what makes my situation a distinctly privileged and pleasurable one is the fact that i love my work. i love the fact that i can work purely out of a desire to work. and sometimes, that desire extends to the work i do as a student. reading spivak and foucault and woolf and dubois and craig dworkin and myung mi kim and nietzsche and trying to engage with it in some meaningful way – that’s a joy. it’s fulfilling, and occasionally, it’s as life-affirming as communicating with an audience or conceptualizing a program or creating a piece of music.
it’s been a long time coming, but i can finally announce it all today: i am putting together my own festival, UNPLAY, to be held in brooklyn this summer – and releasing my debut full-length album with EMI, Voyages, on my nineteenth birthday, june 11th.
really, really excited about all this. read more here.
