Among his generation of concert artists, pianist Awadagin Pratt is acclaimed for his musical insight and intensely involving performances in recital and with symphony orchestras.
Born in Pittsburgh, Pratt began studying piano at the age of six, and began violin studies at nine. At 16, he entered the University of Illinois, where he studied piano, violin, and conducting. He subsequently enrolled at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, becoming the first student in the school’s history to receive diplomas in three performance areas—piano, violin, and conducting. In recognition of this achievement and for his work in the field of classical music, Pratt received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Johns Hopkins and an honorary doctorate from Illinois Wesleyan University in 2012.
In 1992, Pratt won the Naumburg International Piano Competition and two years later was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant. He has since played numerous recitals throughout the U.S., including Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. His many orchestral performances include appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, and the Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Baltimore, St. Louis, National, Detroit, and New Jersey symphonies. Summer festival engagements include Ravinia, Blossom, Wolftrap, Caramoor, Aspen, and the Hollywood Bowl. Pratt has toured Japan four times and performed in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Israel, Columbia, and South Africa. Recent and upcoming appearances include recital engagements in Baltimore, La Jolla, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Ravinia, Delaware, Duke University, and at Carnegie Hall for the Naumburg Foundation; as well as appearances with the orchestras of Cincinnati, Indianapolis, North Carolina, Utah, Richmond, Grand Rapids, Memphis, Fresno, Winston-Salem, New Mexico, and Springfield, Ohio. He also serves on the faculty of the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he teaches and performs.
Also an experienced conductor, Pratt has conducted programs with the Toledo, New Mexico, Vancouver, Washington, Winston-Salem, Santa Fe, and Prince George County symphonies, the Northwest Sinfonietta, the Concertante di Chicago, and orchestras in Japan. A great favorite on college and university performing arts series and a strong advocate of music education, Pratt participates in numerous residency and outreach activities such as master classes, children’s recitals, play/talk demonstrations and question and answer sessions for students of all ages. He is a frequent judge for international competitions including the Rubinstein International Competition in Israel, the Cleveland International Competition, Minnesota e-Competition, the Unisa International Competition, and the International Competition for Young Pianists in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz in the Ukraine.
In 2009, Pratt was one of four artists selected to perform at a classical music event at the White House that included student workshops hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama, and a concert for guests including President Barack Obama. He has performed two other times at the White House, both at the invitation of President Bill Clinton.
Pratt’s recordings for Angel/EMI include A Long Way From Normal, an all-Beethoven Sonata CD, Live from South Africa, Transformations, and an all-Bach CD with the St. Lawrence String Quartet. His most recent recordings are the Brahms Sonatas for Cello and Piano with Zuill Bailey for Telarc and a recording of the music of Judith Lang Zaimont with the Harlem Quartet for Navona Records.
Pratt is currently a professor of piano at the College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) at the University of Cincinnati. He served as the artistic director of the World Piano Competition in Cincinnati and is currently the artistic director of the Art of the Piano Festival at CCM.
