| Name |
Awadagin Pratt |
| Height |
|
| Naionality |
American |
| Date of Birth |
6-April-1966 |
| Place of Birth |
Normal, Illinois, U.S. |
| Famous for |
Singing |
Awadagin Pratt is a concert pianist from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pratt’s career received its impetus when in 1992 he 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, 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 in 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 thirty 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. In private life, Pratt resides in Cincinnati, Ohio. He continues to play tennis, and he also pursues interests in chess and fine wines. Pratt is celebrated not only as a virtuoso but also for his unconventional appearance when performing. “Pratt takes the stage at Boston's Jordan Hall 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” (Shepard 1998). Moreover, Pratt has long affected dreadlocks, emulating tennis star Yannick Noah. Pratt has explained that, aside from improving his own level of comfort, his sartorial choices are calculated to break down barriers between the audience, the performer, and the music, a result in keeping with his hope that he can build enthusiasm for classical music among youth and audiences not traditionally interested in the art form.
Although fully equipped to meet the technical demands of showpieces by composers like Franz Liszt, Pratt has gravitated more to literature that, while technically demanding, has less surface glitter and more introspection. Among other composers whose works he has espoused are Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Cesar Franck, Edvard Grieg, Modest Mussorgsky, and Sergei Rachmaninoff.
