Christopher O'Riley

From his groundbreaking transcriptions of Radiohead to his unforgettable interpretations of classic and new repertoire, pianist Christopher O’Riley has redefined the possibilities of classical music. He has taken his unique vision to both traditional classical music venues and symphonic settings, as well as to entirely new audiences on the radio, and at universities and even clubs. As host of the most popular classical music radio show on the air today, From the Top (nationally distributed on National Public Radio), Mr. O’Riley works and performs with the next generation of brilliant young musicians, demonstrating to audiences, with humor and a lack of pretension, that these young artists are no different than any other child.

An interpreter and arranger of some of the most important contemporary rock music of our time, Chris lives by the Duke Ellington adage, “there are only two kinds of music, good music and bad.” His first recording of Radiohead transcriptions, True Love Waits (Sony/Odyssey) received 4 stars from Rolling Stone and was as critically acclaimed as it was commercially successful. His second set of music from the British alt-pop outfit, entitled Hold Me to This: Christopher O’Riley plays the music of Radiohead, was released on World Village/Harmonia Mundi in the spring of 2005. In April 2006, his third set of transcriptions was released on the same label.  Entitled Home to Oblivion:  An Elliott Smith Tribute, Mr. O’Riley this time tackles the deeply emotional and complex work from the troubled singer/songwriter who died prematurely in 2003. His most recent recording, released in April 2007 and entitled Second Grace: The Music of Nick Drake, is a disc of transcriptions of the music of the British folk singer.  Nick Drake died in 1974 after releasing just three albums, yet influenced two generations of songwriters in his wake.

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