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Artist
Tristan Allen
12+ albums
pianoinstrumentalClassicalcontemporary classicalContemporary
about
Tristan Allen was minding his business when a chance encounter with a stranger drastically altered his career path. On the last day of a five-week summer program at Berklee College of Music in late August, the 17-year-old pianist — prodigy is a better word — was now saying his goodbyes. In the middle of hugging two of his new friends, a woman walked by and stopped to snap a photo on her camera phone. Amanda Palmer, the wily Boston rock musician who fronts the Dresden Dolls, was on her way home from rehearsals for “Cabaret,’’ the A.R.T. production she recently starred in. She was touched by their tenderness. As she walked away, one of Allen’s friends mentioned who had just taken their picture. Being a Dresden Dolls fan, Allen ran after her and had the gall to ask if he could play his own piano compositions for her. It was the kind of exchange Palmer thrives on — fearless, spontaneous, gutsy. She accepted his offer, took Allen and his friends back to her apartment to play music, and within weeks she asked Allen if he’d like to record his songs with her at a Boston studio. “It’s incredibly exciting,’’ Allen says from his home in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., with more than a hint of glee in his voice. “It’s really just a dream. If it weren’t for her, none of this would have happened. Everything happened so perfectly.’’ Nearly four months after their random meeting, Allen has a lot to be proud of. He and Palmer recently recorded an EP, which they’ll celebrate tonight with a joint p
