Tasker Polk was born in Warrenton, North Carolina. He is a direct descendant of The Honorable William Hawkins Polk, a brother of President James Knox Polk. He studied piano with Dr. Robert Carter at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina and while there received many musical honors and was selected to Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. He studied with Dr. Rudolph Ganz at the Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University and with Prof. Paul Baumgartner and Rolf Mäser at the Basle Conservatory of Music in Switzerland. He participated in a Master Class given by Mme Ilona Kabos during the Tibor Varga International Music Festival in Sion, Switzerland and in a Master Class given by Prof. Mieczyslaw Horszowski during the International Music Festival in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Polk was selected three times to appear as soloist with the East Carolina University Orchestra. He received first prize in the Johann Sebastian Bach International Competition in Washington, D.C. and gave his début recital there with works by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, and Copland. He won the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra Soloist Audition and made his début with this ensemble performing Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. He received the Sarah Graham Kenan Award in the Performing Arts. This was presented through the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra.

Polk has concertized in the United States of America, Europe, the Rock of Gibraltar, and North Africa.

Tasker Polk is married to Katherine Robinson. She received art instruction at an early age in North Carolina and has maintained that interest to this day. She majored in art at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. She works in most media, her favorite being mixed media. She studied with Chevis Clark, Carol McDaniel, Tom Anderson, Ralph Smith, Anna Schalk, and Zoltan Szabo. She learned from Anna Schalk how to use different materials along with  different inks, paints, dyes, papers, etc. in designing paintings. She attended a workshop given by Zoltan Szabo in Charleston, South Carolina. She learned much from him about design and watercolor in general. Two of her paintings were chosen for the after-workshop exhibition. She won awards at several art exhibitions and has been associated with numerous art galleries and art organizations and as a member of the Piccolo Spoleto Art Committee in Charleston, South Carolina met Gian Carlo Menotti.

Katherine and Tasker travel internationally and have some projects planned for the near future. They especially enjoy going to the Rock of Gibraltar and to Southern Spain.