For his appearance this week with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Christopher O'Riley will perform works by 20th-century French composer Maurice Ravel and Radiohead, the British alternative rock band - a perfectly normal juxtaposition for this pianist.
"There never was a plan," O'Riley says of his emergence from traditional classical artist to multimedia celebrity to crossover success story, acclaimed for brilliant arrangements of rock songs. "It was just a matter of willingness, and doing what I like doing, and playing what I like playing."
O'Riley has lately begun performing recitals that balance such classical giants as Robert Schumann, Claude Debussy and Dmitri Shostakovich with the likes of singer/songwriters Nick Drake and the late Elliott Smith, as well as Radiohead. And his next album offers his takes on songs by Nirvana, Pink Floyd, Tears for Fears and more.
"It will be the first piano recording to induce long-term hearing loss," O'Riley says from New York, where he has been listening to the final edit. "I'm very proud of that," he adds with a laugh.
The Nirvana track from the new CD is due to be premiered by the pianist on the Late Show with David Letterman at the end of April. "It will be taped the night before, and there will be video with it," says O'Riley, who won't be invited over to the host's desk. "I'll get my three and a half minutes of fame and that's it," the pianist says.
He enjoys plenty of air time in other ways. O'Riley, 53, is the engaging host of the weekly NPR show From the Top, carried by more than 200 stations, and its PBS counterpart, From the Top at Carnegie Hall. In both versions, the pianist chats with young classical musicians and provides them an invaluable showcase.
It was the original NPR version of the show that afforded O'Riley with an extra showcase for himself. Thwarted from pursuing an idea to include different musical genres on the program - "I was told, 'One minute of jazz and you're off' " - he still found a way to enjoy his nonclassical interests.
"My solo spot on the show was to fill in the gaps where stations can do local IDs," he says. Instead of playing little bits of Bach or Mozart, O'Riley slipped in some of his Radiohead transcriptions. "There was a little subversive subtext to this. It was my way to play music I believe in," he says. "The stations would get calls, 'Who is this Mr. Head and where can I find more of his beautiful music?' "
