Awadagin Pratt - Life

Life

When he was 3 years old, Pratt moved with his parents to Normal, Illinois, where Illinois State University had offered his mother a position as a professor of social work and his Sierra Leone-born father, Theodore, one as a physics professor. Pratt began piano lessons at age six and violin lessons at age nine, but for much of his childhood his first interest was tennis, in which he achieved ranking in the US Midwest. He eventually chose to concentrate on his musical talents, however, and at age sixteen he declined tennis scholarships at other schools to accept one in violin at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he enrolled as a freshman. Later, he transferred to the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, as, unlike other schools, it accepted him both as a pianist and as a violinist : "He was the first student in the history of that institution to earn certificates in piano and violin and a graduate diploma in conducting" (Shepard 1998).

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.