InConcert Sierra presents Christopher Taylor on Nov. 21

Legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz called the Liszt Transcriptions of Beethoven’s symphonies “the greatest works for the piano.” InConcert Sierra will present pianist Christopher Taylor, an innovative musician acclaimed as “seemingly possessed of superhuman powers,” (Los Angeles Times) who will tackle two of these demanding works on Sunday, November 21, 2021, at 2pm. 

The program will include the monumental Liszt’s transcriptions of Beethoven’s Symphonies No. 3 and No. 4. 

“It takes extraordinary skill as an orchestrator to condense entire Beethoven symphonies into works for a solo piano, and Franz Liszt accomplished this feat in his transcriptions,” said Ken Hardin, artistic director of InConcert Sierra. “Audiences don’t hear these performed often because it takes an equally extraordinary skill as a pianist to play the transcriptions.”

In Taylor’s last InConcert Sierra appearance in 2014, he performed the entire set of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations on a rare dual-keyboard Steinway concert grand shipped to Grass Valley from the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Numerous awards have confirmed Mr. Taylor’s high standing in the musical world. He was named an American Pianists’ Association Fellow for 2000​ ​after he had already received an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1996 and the Bronze Medal in the 1993 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. In 1990 he took first prize in the William Kapell International Piano Competition​ ​and became one of the first recipients of the Irving Gilmore Young Artists’ Award.

A fascinating pianist, in addition to his busy concert schedule, he currently serves as Paul Collins Professor of Piano Performance at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He pursues a variety of other interests, including mathematics (he received a summa cum laude degree from Harvard University in this field in 1992); philosophy (an article he coauthored with the leading scholar Daniel Dennett appears in the Oxford Free Will Handbook); computing (recent projects include topographic mapping software and a novel system of text entry for Android phones); linguistics; and biking, which is his primary means of commuting.

The November 21 concert’s Covid restrictions include a vaccinated-only attendance policy, masks required at all times indoors, limited audience numbers with social distancing encouraged, no pre-concert forum, no intermission, and a 70–80-minute performance.  Vaccination records will be checked, and doors open, at 1:15.