About the artist

Christopher Basso’s piano performances have been heralded as “riveting, with a multi-dimensional array of colors and shapes” (San Francisco Classical Voice) an “undeniably extraordinary” (Wilmington News Journal). The Boston Globe writes of his Prokofiev 8th Piano Sonata “Basso used his coruscating virtuosity, his flexible rhythmic spine, and his chameleon colors to communicate the sorrow, the irony, the rage and the compassion of this great score.” His playing has also been described as thoughtful, expressive and above all, deeply moving and engaging.

Basso was named First Place Prizewinner in the Second International Van Cliburn Competition for Outstanding Amateurs in Ft. Worth, Texas. National performance venues include recitals at The Flagler Museum in Palm Beach, Florida, the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., the Rockport Chamber Music Festival in Rockport, Massachusetts, the Shandalee Music Festival in Livingston, New York, and The Nicolaï Hall Series in Mill Valley, California. Basso has performed in the Bay Area with local artists, including violinists Ian Swensen and Krista Bennion Feeney, violist Jodi Levitz, cellists Jennifer Culp and Jean-Michel Fonteneau, pianists Robin Sutherland and Keisuke Nakagoshi, and the Ives Quartet.

Christopher Basso received B.M. and M.M. degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. His piano mentors are many, and include Paul Hersh, Mack McCray, Nina Svetlanova, David Brown, and Marcia Spitz. Basso teaches piano at San Francisco Community Music Center. As an educator, Basso imparts in his students — youngsters and adults alike — a lifelong appreciation for music, helping nurture creative examination and practice, while guiding in finding a standard for self-expression and personal fulfillment.