Awadagin Pratt (; born March 6, 1966) is a concert pianist born in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

Life

Michelle and Barack Obama listening pianist Awadagin Pratt

Awadagin Pratt began piano lessons at six with Leslie Sompong and violin lessons at age nine, having moved to

Normal, Illinois Normal is a town in McLean County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town's population was 52,736. Normal is the smaller of two principal municipalities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area, and Illinois' seventh most ...

. With a violin scholarship he enrolled in

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

; he then transferred to the

Peabody Conservatory of Music The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University is a private conservatory and preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1857 and opened in 1866 by merchant/financier and philanthropist George Peabody (1795–1869) ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

as a pianist and as a violinist. In 1992 Pratt became the first African-American pianist to win the

Naumburg International Piano Competition The Naumburg International Piano Competition is the name given to all the piano competitions sponsored by the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation. It is a competition for young pianists, of ages 17 to 32, organized in New York City, United States since ...

since then, "he has performed with nearly every major orchestra in this country he_United_States.html"_;"title="United_States.html"_;"title="he_United_States">he_United_States">United_States.html"_;"title="he_United_States">he_United_States_at_the_Bill_Clinton.html" ;"title="United_States">he_United_States.html" ;"title="United_States.html" ;"title="he United States">he United States">United_States.html" ;"title="he United States">he United States at the Bill Clinton">Clinton White House, Obama White House and on ''Sesame Street''" (Cruice 2000). Winning the Naumburg prize launched Pratt into a strenuous performance schedule, with 40 to 50 concerts that year and 70 the following year, when he signed with the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

artist management firm

IMG Artists IMG Artists LLC is a performing arts management corporation. History In 1979 Charles Hamlen and Edna Landau co-founded Hamlen/Landau, a New York-based musical artist management agency. In 1984 it was acquired by International Management Group and ...

.Awadagin Pratt Home Page.
/ref> In 1994 Pratt made his debut at

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...

with the

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...

(Shepard 1998). In fall 2004 Pratt accepted a position as Assistant Professor of

Piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

and Artist in Residence at the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,0 ...

College-Conservatory of Music, rising to the rank of Professor of Piano. His recital debut there came on December 1, 2005 (Gelfand 2005). Pratt continues to give up to 30 performances a year throughout the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and abroad, and he hopes to add performances on the violin, both solo and in chamber music, to his recital calendar. A recital on March 3, 2020, drew praises for its "old-master richness." Pratt is also an experienced conductor, having led orchestras in the US and Japan. In private life, Pratt resides in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

with his wife Jill Meyer Pratt and their son. He continues to play tennis, and also pursues interests in

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

and fine

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

Performance preferences

Writers often note Pratt's appearance. "Pratt takes the stage at

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Jordan Hall Jordan Hall is a 1,051-seat concert hall in Boston, Massachusetts, the principal performance space of the New England Conservatory. It is one block from Boston's Symphony Hall. It is the only conservatory building in the United States to be de ...

in a subtle but colorful green-and-lavender striped and checked shirt. His black pants reveal a dash of whimsicality below the cuffs: socks adorned with a portrait of

Van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

" (Shepard 1998). Among other composers whose works he has espoused are

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

, Johannes Brahms,

César Franck César-Auguste Jean-Guillaume Hubert Franck (; 10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a French Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher born in modern-day Belgium. He was born in Liège (which at the time of his birth was pa ...

Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the foremost Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of ...

Modest Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky ( rus, link=no, Модест Петрович Мусоргский, Modest Petrovich Musorgsky , mɐˈdɛst pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈmusərkskʲɪj, Ru-Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky version.ogg; – ) was a Russian compo ...

, and Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Recordings

Pratt has released several recordings on compact disc: *''A Long Way From Normal'' (EMI, 1994), Pratt's debut album, including music of Liszt, Franck, Brahms, and Bach. The title is a reference to his boyhood home of Normal, Illinois. *''Beethoven Piano Sonatas'' (EMI, 1995), including sonatas 7, 9, 30, and 31. *'' Live From South Africa'' (EMI, 1997), which was recorded in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

(Shepard 1998), including works of Bach, Brahms, Franck, and

Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one o ...

. *''Transformations'' (EMI 72435 56836, November 16, 1999), including

Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky ( rus, link=no, Модест Петрович Мусоргский, Modest Petrovich Musorgsky , mɐˈdɛst pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈmusərkskʲɪj, Ru-Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky version.ogg; – ) was a Russian compo ...

Pictures at an Exhibition ''Pictures at an Exhibition'', french: Tableaux d'une exposition, link=no is a suite of ten piano pieces, plus a recurring, varied Promenade theme, composed by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky in 1874. The piece is Mussorgsky's most famous pia ...

; Pratt's own transcription of Bach's

Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 ''Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor'' (BWV 582) is an organ piece by Johann Sebastian Bach. Presumably composed early in Bach's career, it is one of his most important and well-known works, and an important influence on 19th and 20th century pas ...

; and Brahms's

Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel The ''Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel'', Op. 24, is a work for solo piano written by Johannes Brahms in 1861. It consists of a set of twenty-five variations and a concluding fugue, all based on a theme from George Frideric Handel ...

, all played on a

Bösendorfer Bösendorfer (L. Bösendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH) is an Austrian piano manufacturer and, since 2008, a wholly owned subsidiary of Yamaha Corporation. Bösendorfer is unusual in that it produces 97- and 92- key models in addition to instrum ...

Imperial Grand. *''Play Bach'' (Angel 2002), including Bach's Brandenburg Concerto no. 5 in D Major, BWV 1050; Keyboard Concerti nos. 4 in A Major, BWV 1055, and 5 in F Minor, BWV 1056; and shorter works, all with a chamber ensemble performing one to a part.

References

*(2000-04-09) Cruice, Valerie; ''Music; A pianist with plans for time traveling''; New York Times.

*Gelfand, Janelle. 2005. A minute with... Awadagin Pratt, The Enquirer, Dec. 2005

* (2005) ''Classical superstar joins CCM faculty at the University of Cincinnati'; University of Cincinnati Magazine (magazine.uc.edu)

*(2003) Serinus, Jason V.; ''Interview with Pianist Awadagin Pratt''; (hometheaterhifi.com

*''Artist Profile at

Saint Paul Sunday ''Saint Paul Sunday'' is a Peabody Award-winning weekly classical music radio program that aired from 1980 to 2007, with encore broadcasts airing through 2012. It was hosted by Bill McGlaughlin for its entire run. At its height, it was America's ...

'' (

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center ...

); (publicradio.org)

*(1998) Shepard, T. Brooks; ''Classical romance from Awadagin Pratt - African American pianist excels at classical European music''; (findarticles.com

*Biography at Bach-cantatas.co

*(2001-11-14); ''CFA Welcomes Acclaimed Pianist Awadagin Pratt''; The Mason Gazette (gazette.gmu.edu)

*(1995-02-16); Barron, James; ''ON TOUR WITH: Awadagin Pratt; Knowing What It Means to Solo'';

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

(nytimes.com)

*(2007-09-24); Gladstone, Valerie; ''Pratt's Triple Threat''; The New York Sun (nysun.com)

*(2008-11-15); One Voice Choru

presents ''Bringing Out the Best: Beethoven, Brahms & Burleigh'' with special guest, world-class pianist Awadagin Pratt.

External links

Official sitePratt Music Foundation
*
Awadagin Pratt Collection
McLean County Museum of History {{DEFAULTSORT:Pratt, Awadagin 1966 births American classical pianists Male classical pianists American male pianists Living people Peabody Institute alumni African-American classical pianists EMI Classics and Virgin Classics artists People from Normal, Illinois Articles containing video clips 20th-century American pianists Classical musicians from Illinois 21st-century classical pianists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American pianists Women classical pianists 20th-century African-American musicians 21st-century African-American musicians