Praised as “fervid but impeccably controlled” by the San Francisco Chronicle and “brilliant” by the San Francisco Classical Voice, pianist Allegra Chapman is a curious musical explorer who moves fluidly among roles as soloist, chamber musician, curator, writer, and educator.

She is Artistic Director of Point Reyes Chamber Concerts and a Contributing Writer to the San Francisco Symphony. As a performer, Allegra is a member of Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and the award-winning Chordless Duo with soprano Sara LeMesh.

Allegra performs widely in repertoire ranging from well-known works to historically overlooked and living composers. Her ongoing project with cellist Jennifer Kloetzel, Women of Note, explores music for cello and piano by women composers across the centuries through concerts, recordings, and talks.

In 2023, her duo Chordless won First Prize in the Federation of the Art Song Fellowship Competition in New York and gave recitals at the Zimmerli Art Museum of Rutgers University and The Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, where the duo held a residency. In 2020, their music video, The Night in Silence, won Best Music Video at the Tokyo International Short Film Festival and screened at four other film festivals.

Allegra’s recent performance highlights include Rhapsody in Blue with the Bay Philharmonic and Ukiah Symphony Orchestra, appearances with Eco Ensemble at Cal Performances, and a program of two triple concertos with Delphi Trio and the San Jose Chamber Orchestra: Beethoven’s Triple Concerto and the world premiere of Clarice Assad’s A Story of Mermaids. She has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and China at festivals and venues including Aspen, Festival Napa Valley, the San Jose Chamber Music Society, Alice Tully Hall, the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series, Bard Music Festival, the San Francisco Jazz Center, Valley of the Moon Music Festival, the Liszt Ferenc Memorial Museum, and Xi’an Concert Hall.

A passionate chamber musician and new music advocate, Allegra has collaborated with members of the Eusebius, Orion, and Telegraph String Quartets and worked with celebrated American composers including Joan Tower, Melinda Wagner, and Charles Wuorinen. From 2020 to 2023, Allegra was the pianist of the Delphi Trio with violinist Liana Bérubé and cellist Tanya Tomkins.

Allegra was the founding co-artistic director and executive director of the critically acclaimed festival Bard Music West from 2017 to 2020, a San Francisco-based branch of the Bard Music Festival. Described as “stunning and moving” by San Francisco Classical Voice and as “a brilliant San Francisco festival” by the San Francisco Chronicle, Bard Music West’s festivals each explored the world of a composer from the past 100 years. In its four years, Bard Music West presented three festivals that dove deep into the music, life, and influences of composers Grażyna Bacewicz, Henry Cowell, and György Ligeti. It also presented an emerging composers concert series, working with composers Danny Clay and Gabriella Smith. In total, Bard Music West presented more than 70 world-class artists from around the globe, commissioned three new multidisciplinary works, and performed over 100 pieces of music, including many that had never previously been recorded.

Allegra received her Master of Music from The Juilliard School and graduated in the inaugural class of the Bard College Conservatory of Music with undergraduate degrees in History and Piano Performance. She owes much to her many wonderful teachers, who have included Jeremy Denk, Seymour Lipkin, Julian Martin, and Peter Serkin. She maintains a private teaching studio and is a faculty member of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Pre-College Division, where she coaches chamber music. Allegra lives in San Francisco with her family and an ever-growing library of more than 1,000 books.