Christopher O'Riley

Pianist Christopher O'Riley is equally known for performances of standard classical repertory and of transcriptions of popular music, specifically that of the band <a href="spotify:artist:4Z8W4fKeB5YxbusRsdQVPb">Radiohead</a>. O'Riley introduced <a href="spotify:artist:4Z8W4fKeB5YxbusRsdQVPb">Radiohead</a> to many classical listeners as host of the U.S. National Public Radio program From the Top, where he aired performances of his own transcriptions without identifying the source material. O'Riley has a substantial catalog of recordings covering both standard repertory and his popular music transcriptions. In 2024, he issued a recording of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I.

O'Riley was born in Chicago in 1956. He started piano lessons at age four but was also interested in popular music and formed a band while still in middle school. O'Riley was drawn to jazz-rock fusion styles, and as a high school student, he began his professional career by appearing with saxophonist <a href="spotify:artist:3Ovu3GZ3CT3xjPeJRuJ6r7">Eric Kloss</a>. O'Riley attended the New England Conservatory of Music, where the atmosphere under president and composer <a href="spotify:artist:4HirYEf3m0K7N1bP2JWcEt">Gunther Schuller</a> was congenial to mixtures of jazz and classical music. He took various competition prizes, including a win at the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, and he was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant. These led to bookings and to the recording of O'Riley's 1989 debut album, featuring works by <a href="spotify:artist:7xH3VOMwOjnqGu7NERNUx1">Busoni</a>, including the difficult Fantasia Contrappuntistica, on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Centaur%22">Centaur</a> label. He made classical recordings for the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Albany%22">Albany</a>, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Nonesuch%22">Nonesuch</a>, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22RCA%22">RCA</a>, and other labels in the 1990s, and in 1995, he recorded P.D.Q. Bach's The Short-Tempered Clavier for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Telarc%22">Telarc</a> Distribution.

O'Riley never lost interest in pop and rock music, and after he became the host of From the Top, he began to insert his own transcriptions of <a href="spotify:artist:4Z8W4fKeB5YxbusRsdQVPb">Radiohead</a> songs into short breaks in the program, along with miniatures by classical composers. He did not identify the <a href="spotify:artist:4Z8W4fKeB5YxbusRsdQVPb">Radiohead</a> pieces at first, and later, when he said what they were, the network began to receive communications asking for more information about a composer named Head; few classical listeners had heard of <a href="spotify:artist:4Z8W4fKeB5YxbusRsdQVPb">Radiohead</a> at the time. O'Riley went on to issue two albums of <a href="spotify:artist:4Z8W4fKeB5YxbusRsdQVPb">Radiohead</a> transcriptions, True Love Waits (2003) and Hold Me to This (2005); both albums appeared on classical crossover charts. O'Riley also recorded albums of material by Elliott Smith and Nick Drake. He continued to record classical albums, including 2015's Beethoven. Period., on which he backed cellist <a href="spotify:artist:4QGidRjlbajuTespAY0LMp">Matt Haimovitz</a>. O'Riley also recorded several albums of tango music. In 2024, he issued the album J.S. Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Navona+Records%22">Navona Records</a> label. ~ James Manheim, Rovi