Welcome to the website of Emma and Jacob Taggart. Emma and Jacob are talented fifteen and eleven year-old piano prodigies. Both of them are classically trained pianists and students of Dr. Reid Smith. Emma and Jacob have performed around the world and won numerous awards and competitions, including the prestigious Maria Herrero International Piano Competition in Granada, Spain. In November of this year Emma and Jacob were featured on the nationally syndicated National Public Radio show, "From the Top." In connection with this radio show, they performed live at the Ordway Theater in St. Paul in November.
Keep up with the happenings of Emma & Jacob here.
Emma is very excited to announce that she has been advanced onto the next round of the International Piano E-Competition. This Minnesota based competition draws in competitors from all around the world, and Emma is very honored to be counted among them. She will fly out to Chicago in early February for the second of […]
Emma will be competing in Bowling Green, Ohio in the David D Dubois Piano Competition on February 2! She will be one of around 25 competitors and is very excited to have made it thus far.
Emma and Jacob just found out that they were chosen to advance to the national round of the MTNA duo-piano competition! They were selected first as the state representatives and competed just recently at the regional level. They are very proud to be chosen as the national representatives of the Midwestern region! They will compete […]
WE’RE SO EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE WE’LL BE OPENING FOR ICONIC ROCK BAND “THE GOO GOO DOLLS” IN JULY!!!!!!!! A little break from mainstream classical music, we’ll be warming up the stage with a few of our favorite 80’s hits 🙂 Unfortunately it is a private concert, but we’ll keep everyone updated and be sure to […]
We are so excited to announce that both of us took second in our respective divisions in the Bosendorfer 2018 Competition!! Jacob competed with a repertoire of Bach Italian Concerto and Chopin Scherzo No 1; Emma with Beethoven Sonata Op 10 no 2 and Debussy L’isle Joyeuse. Both of us were awarded a monetary przie […]
Just these past few days, we had the opportunity to perform with legendary icon Sheila E (Prince’s fomer drummer and fiance) and her band!!! Her manager reached out to us a couple weeks ago, mentioning that Sheila especially requested us to perform in her show at Paisley Park of all places for the the upcoming […]
We are headed to Boston!!! We have been invited back to perform in From the Top’s annual gala show in Boston, which will of course be aired on national radio in the beginning of June! such an honor to work again with Christopher O’Reilly and the amazing From the Top crew. Definitely tune in to […]
Jacob would like to announce his most recent award: first place in the prestigious Thursday Musical Young Artists Scholarship Competition. As it was his first year, and the age bracket went up to 9th grade, he was quite surprised and very honored!!! He will be performing in their Winners’ Concert on April 19 at the […]
We are so honored to announce we will be playing a total of 8 concerts with the Minnesota Orchestra in their upcoming 2018-2019 season!!! Four of them are as a result of Emma’s win of the Young Peoples’ Symphony Concert Association Competition this past February. She will be playing Grieg Concerto. The other four will […]
Emma is so proud to announce she was selected as the winner of the 2018 Rising Stars Concerto Competition!!! As a result, she received $2000 and an opportunity to perform Grieg Concerto No.1 with the prestigious LaCrosse Symphony Orchestra in March. Emma is extremely honored to have received such an honor! Tickets to attend the […]
Just a few weeks ago, both Emma and Jacob competed concertos in the Golden Valley Orchestra’s Young Artist Competition. They are so happy to announce that they were selected as joint winners!!! They will be performing with the Golden Valley Orchestra in March in the Winner’s Concert. Emma will be playing Grieg Concerto, Mvmt 1; […]
Taggart Squared is so excited to announce that they took first place in their first ever duo compeition on January 7th, 2018!!! They competed Emma’s original arrangement of Mozart’s Rondo alla Turca, wowing a crowd of more the 350 people! The competition took place at the prestigious International Center at the 5-star Broadmoor Hotel in […]
This past August, Emma and Jacob were invited to participate in the Grand Piano in Palace Int’l Piano Festival and Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia!!! They had lessons with master pianists from around the world, performed in prestigious Russian palaces and concert halls, and played concertos under the baton of Alexey Rubin, conductor of the […]
Just this past summer, Taggart Squared was able to play in a masterclass at Kent State University with our idols, prestigious piano duo Anderson and Roe!! We went through an extensive audition process and were extremely happy and honored to finally be chosen. We played a Bach Cantata that Emma arranged, as well as one […]
The votes have been counted, and the judges have tallied up their scores. Emma is excited to announce that she has been chosen as a 2017 Minnesota Varsity Showcase Artist!!! She will be appearing at Minnesota Public Radio’s Fitzgerald Theater on April 30 in the Showcase Concert. In addition to this, she will also be the […]
Emma is currently a finalist in the Classical Minnesota Public Radio competition MN Varsity. An online audience vote will determine one of the five final “Showcase Artists” who will perform live at the Fitzgerald Theater on April 30 (in addition to receiving scholarships) . Public voting is now open through 11:59 pm on March 26. […]
Emma is very proud to have been selected as the winner of the 2017 Dakota Valley Symphony Concerto and Aria Competition! She will make two appearances with the Dakota Valley Symphony in April, performing Mendelssohn’s Concerto No. 1 in G minor. Click here for more details on dates, locations, and times.
Click here to listen to her winning submission and view her page. As a featured artist in the semifinal round, she will be recording at the Maud Moon Weyerhauser studio in St. Paul next month. This recording will be played on MPR in March with the rest of the featured artists. Stay tuned to learn how […]
Both Jacob and Emma will be appearing with former Prince drummer and member of Prince and the Revolution, Sheila E. They will be performing at the Purple Philanthropy concert at Orchestra Hall on October 23rd at 7:30pm. For more information, or to purchase tickets, please click here.
We are excited to announce that Emma and Jacob were chosen to appear on the nationally syndicated NPR radio show, “From the Top.” Appearing on “From the Top” is widely recognized as the pinnacle for young classical singers and musicians of all genres. Emma and Jacob will be performing at the Ordway in St. Paul […]
Emma and Jacob would like to welcome you to our new website. We are excited that our dad finally got around to putting our site on a new web platform! You can look for many more updates in the future. If you have any questions on the site, or need help navigating, please contact Jared […]