Awadagin Pratt
| Awadagin Pratt | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Awadagin Pratt |
| Born | March 6, 1966 |
| Origin | Normal, Illinois, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | pianist |
| Years active | 1998–present |
Awadagin Pratt (/ɑːwɑːˈdɑːdʒɪn/; born March 6, 1966) is a concert pianist from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Awadagin Pratt began piano lessons at six with Leslie Sompong and violin lessons at age nine. With a violin scholarship he enrolled in University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; he transferred to the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore as a pianist and as a violinist.
In 1992 Pratt became the first African-American pianist to win the Naumburg International Piano Competition since then, "he has performed with nearly every major orchestra in this country [the United States], at the Clinton 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 artist management firm IMG Artists. In 1994 Pratt made his debut at Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic (Shepard 1998).
In fall 2004 Pratt accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Piano and Artist in Residence at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. 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 and abroad, and he hopes to add performances on the violin, both solo and in chamber music, to his recital calendar.
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