Christopher O’Riley

Hear Christopher on Monday’s Midmorning program on Minnesota Public Radio as he talks about the classical connection to rock here.

Then come to the Dakota Monday and Tuesday night and hear him live – with a different program each night.

On August 18, critically acclaimed concert pianist Christopher O’Riley will release Out of My Hands, a new album of his trademark piano interpretations of contemporary repertoire featuring compositions by Nirvana, REM, Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Tori Amos, The Smiths, Cocteau Twins, and Portishead among others. These solo piano concerts are Christopher’s only scheduled preview performances of the CD leading up to his CD release shows at New York’s Highline Ballroom.

The music will be based on his own groundbreaking transcriptions of the songs in question, following on the heels of his past readings of the finest in the pop repertoire of Radiohead, Elliott Smith and Nick Drake. Along with his powerful interpretations of the Classical piano repertoire, these new performance sees pianist Christopher O’Riley continues to stretch and redefine the possibilities of Classical music in our time.

Out of My Hands features the single “Heart Shaped Box,” now available on iTunes, originally composed by Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain. The recording techniques employed exemplify Christopher O’Riley’s unique straddling of the Classical and rock music worlds: O’Riley performed on a Hamburg Steinway Model D piano with five microphones placed inside, as well as a 360 degree surround system known as the “Death Star,” comprising seven additional microphones. This dual system delivers the intensity and rich harmonic layering of O’Riley’s piano arrangements, inspired by the sound of guitars, basses and drums, and captures the concert hall acoustic.

Also included on the new album are “Mother” by Tori Amos; Elliot Smith’s “New Disaster;” Portishead’s “The Rip;” “Us and Them” from Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon; “Woman In Chains” by Tears for Fears; “Blue Bell Knoll” by the Cocteau Twins; “World Leader Pretend” from R.E.M.; “Asleep” by The Smiths; Reid Anderson’s “Lost of Love” and returning to Radiohead, from In Rainbows, “All I Need” and “Video Tape.” In his fascinating booklet notes, Christopher O’Riley describes the songs through a Classical lens, noting the Debussian fifths in “All I Need,” the Glassian arpeggiations on “Blue Bell Knoll,” the Schubertian focus on “Asleep” and the operatic duet in “Woman in Chains,” along with making musical comparisons to Sibelius, Chopin, Messiaen and Scriabin – all providing enlightening insight into his inimitable craft.

From his groundbreaking transcriptions of Radiohead, Elliott Smith and Nick Drake to his unforgettably sublime interpretations of the Classical canon, pianist Christopher O’Riley has stretched the piano beyond conventional boundaries.  His first recording of Radiohead transcriptions, True Love Waits received four stars from Rolling Stone and was as critically acclaimed as it was commercially successful. His Hold Me to This: Christopher O’Riley plays the music of Radiohead followed suit.

Tackling the deeply emotional and complex work from the troubled singer/songwriter Elliott Smith, Home to Oblivion: An Elliott Smith Tribute drew critical praise from both Classical and pop music critics. O’Riley’s fourth set of transcriptions from the contemporary popular songbook was Second Grace – The Music of Nick Drake, a collection of repertoire written and originally recorded by the late enigmatic British guitar wizard and songwriter.

Mr. O’Riley has taken his unique vision to both traditional classical music venues and symphonic settings, as well as to entirely new audiences on the radio, at universities and even clubs. As host of the popular classical music radio show, National Public Radio’s From The Top, Mr. O’Riley works and
performs with the next generation of brilliant young musicians, demonstrating to audiences that these young artists are as interesting and diverse in their personal lives as they are in their music-making.

Two years ago, PBS launched the weekly television series From the Top from Carnegie Hall featuring O’Riley as host, directed by Emmy winning director Gary Halvorson.

Mr. O’Riley has toured the U.S. with the world-famous Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Orchestra. He has appeared with the philharmonic orchestras of Los Angeles, New York, Moscow and the Royal Philharmonic in London, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the symphonies of Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Baltimore, Philadelphia and San Francisco. The illustrious group of conductors with whom he has collaborated includes Michael Tilson Thomas, Semyon Bychkov, JoAnn Falletta, Krystof Penderecki, Kurt Mazur, James Gaffigan, Vassily Sinaisky, Christopher Hogwood, Roger Norrington and Leonard Bernstein.

From early in his career, Mr. O’Riley was honored with many awards at the Leeds, Van Cliburn, Busoni and Montreal competitions, as well as an Avery Fisher Career Grant. O’Riley studied with Russell Sherman at the New England Conservatory of Music. Christopher O’Riley makes his home in Cleveland, OH. From the Top can be found on-line at www.fromthetop.org