Pianist Allegra Chapman is an omnivorous soloist, chamber musician, and curator with a wide-ranging repertoire of music from Bach to Ligeti and a passion for connecting audiences with historically overlooked and living composers. Her performances have been described as “fervid but impeccably controlled” by the San Francisco Chronicle and “brilliant” by the San Francisco Classical Voice. A graduate of The Juilliard School and Bard Conservatory of Music, she is currently a member of Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and Chordless duo with soprano Sara LeMesh.
Allegra has performed internationally at venues including Alice Tully Hall, San Francisco Jazz Center, and Xi’an Concert Hall. A passionate chamber musician and new music advocate, she has collaborated with members of the Eusebius, Orion, and Telegraph String Quartets and worked with celebrated American composers including Joan Tower, Charles Wuorinen, and Melinda Wagner. From 2020-2023, Allegra was the pianist of the Delphi Trio with violinist Liana Bérubé and cellist Tanya Tomkins. Recent concert highlights include performances at Festival Napa Valley and the National Arts Club in New York City, and a concert of two triple concertos with Delphi Trio and the San Jose Chamber Orchestra—Beethoven’s Triple Concerto and the world premiere of Grammy-nominated composer Clarice Assad’s A Story of Mermaids. In 2020, her music video with Chordless, The Night in Silence, won the “Best Music Video” award at the 2020 Tokyo International Short Film Festival and screened at four other film festivals.
As a curator, Allegra was the founding co-artistic director and executive director of the critically acclaimed festival Bard Music West from 2017-2020. Described as “a brilliant San Francisco festival” by the San Francisco Chronicle and “stunning and moving” by the San Francisco Classical Voice, Bard West presented three multi-disciplinary festivals exploring the worlds of composers from the past 100 years, and a concert series featuring the music and influences of emerging composers. The festival presented over 70 world-class artists from around the world, and 80 works written in the last 100 years, including many that had never been previously recorded. The recorded archives of Bard Music West are available on Bard Music West’s YouTube channel.
Allegra owes much to her many wonderful teachers who have included Jeremy Denk, Seymour Lipkin, Julian Martin, and Peter Serkin. She is currently on faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory’s Pre-College division. She makes her home in San Francisco with her equally omnivorous husband, rescue dog, and an ever-growing library of over 800 books.