Classical pianist Christopher O’Riley has hung out with the Grammy-winning members of Radiohead at Madison Square Garden. He has talked composing with Thom Yorke, especially the group’s stunning “Pyramid Song.” “Everything complimentary I said about that song, he came back with something self-deprecating about his own vocal,” O’Riley says, “but he was very kind.” O’Riley also has worked with late folk icon Nick Drake’s estate and even written liner notes for Elliott Smith’s critically acclaimed posthumous album New Moon.
Typically, world-revered concert performers and recording artists like this do not partner with state universities for extended stays, but that’s just what O’Riley did last year when he was named LSU’s Distinguished Visiting Artist for 2010-2013.
“This is a first for me,” O’Riley says. “I’m excited to spend so much time in Baton Rouge. It’s a really pretty place.”
In 1981, O’Riley chose Baton Rouge as the venue for his initial live performance after being a finalist at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition—a kind of Olympic Games for classical pianists. Last fall, he gave the first of many planned performances at LSU and conducted both private and group lessons with LSU students and faculty.
“In watching him work with our students in public lessons on stage, I was struck by his interest in what they were thinking and how they were approaching the music,” says Lawrence Kaptain, dean of the LSU School of Music. “He was very intent on acknowledging what goodness the students brought, rather than first looking for anything that might be wrong. That is a mark of a great teacher.”
O’Riley has had plenty of practice.
The Chicago native and New England Conservatory of Music graduate serves as the host of From the Top, a classical music radio and television series that showcases youth talent from across the country. NPR and PBS broadcast the weekly program, which can be heard on WRKF 89.3-FM in Baton Rouge. O’Riley’s partnership with LSU means several From the Top episodes will be produced in Louisiana in the course of the next few years.
As host of more than 200 episodes of the series, O’Riley discusses music with talented children and teens then rehearses with them and finally accompanies their performances from his piano. As a mentor to so many, O’Riley has not only imparted his experience and wisdom to America’s next generation of classical musicians. He also has been affected personally by their exuberant performances and their lust for life.
As a concert performer, he is alone with his own skill and instincts to produce thrilling and technically beguiling performances. But with From the Top, he transforms into a borderline improvisational maestro.
“That’s one of the selfish benefits of doing the show,” O’Riley says. “I let the kids play the way they want to and shape my performance around them. So I’m reacting to different styles and phrasings all the time. It’s like dancing with a series of different partners.”
O’Riley’s performance series, his local From the Top broadcasts and his instructing are all part of Kaptain’s plan to launch LSU as a serious music school, one with an expanded reach and greater influence on the national stage.
“Larry [Kaptain] is a visionary,” O’Riley says. “He’s a very passionate man with a good sense of what’s shaking down nationally. He really feels in his heart that LSU’s music school can be among the best.”
O’Riley’s next performance is a chamber music recital with LSU faculty and students at the university’s School of Music Recital Hall on March 11 at 7:30 p.m. Visit music.lsu.edu to purchase tickets. His critically acclaimed albums include Hold Me to This: Christopher O’Riley Plays Radiohead and Second Grace: The Music of Nick Drake. christopheroriley.com
