News

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 and a chance to play in the Winner’s Concert!  Such a great experience with great people.  Looking forward to doing it again next year!

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 Celebration 2018, a massive festival celebrating the life and legacy of Prince.  Of course we were thrilled and accepted immediately.  We performed twice with her at Paisley, each show drawing about 1000 people!  She invited us back again as well to join her a couple days later in a show at the Varsity Theater (Minneapolis).  Such a great experience overall, to be immersed in such a musical culture and to be able to offer tribute to one of the world’s greatest artists.  We will never forget it!!!!!!

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 hear us!  Stay posted for more news and dates for airings.

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 MacPhail Center for Music.

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 feature us playing Saint-Saens’ “Carnival of the Animals.”  We hope you can make it, and again, we are so excited!!!  Link to tickets can be found on our Calendar as soon as they are available.  Stay posted!

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 concert and support Emma can be purchased here.

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; and Jacob will be playing Mozart Concerto K 271, Mvmt 3.  Tickets to see this amazing concert can be purchased here!!

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 Colorado Springs, CO.  Both Emma and Jacob are so honored and delighted to have been chosen as the winners from a pool of some of the most talented duo teams in the world! They will definitely continue to compete in many more duo competitions!

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 Moscow Philharmonic.  They also were awarded the Grand Prix of the festival and were offered a scholarship to return next year. In addition to this, they were also invited to play a small tour in the near future in both Russia and Japan.

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 of Anderson’s own arrangements- Schubert’s “Der Erlkonig.”  It was a great experience overall and we received some priceless tips on both interpretation and arranging!!!