Biography
Born in Pittsburgh on March 6, 1966, Awadagin Pratt became the first student at the Peabody Conservatory to receive simultaneous performance degrees in piano, violin, and conducting. Although qualified in all three fields, he has devoted the bulk of his professional life to the piano, appearing as a recital soloist, participating in chamber-music ensembles, and teaching at academic institutions as well as summer festivals.
Pratt’s father’s family in Sierra Leone placed high value on education and required every member to study piano or organ while also engaging in sports. Those priorities shaped his own upbringing; he took up both piano and violin as a child and, although he earned a national tennis ranking and received athletic scholarship offers, entered the University of Illinois at the age of sixteen to pursue music instead.
After finishing his studies at Peabody, Pratt won first prize in the Naumberg Competition in 1992, becoming the first African-American artist to claim that distinction and gaining his first real measure of financial security as a performer. The victory generated immediate career momentum, resulting in an exclusive contract with EMI and the Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1994. His debut recording, A Long Way from Normal, alluded to his childhood in Normal, Illinois.
Onstage he favors a low piano bench, retains his dreadlocks, and wears casual attire expressly to reduce the perceived formality of classical concerts. Listeners remark that the sound and his interpretive choices remain the central focus whenever he plays. Subsequent early recordings included Live from South Africa, a disc devoted to Beethoven sonatas, and the 2002 album Play Bach, recorded with the St. Lawrence String Quartet. After several years without new releases, Pratt returned in 2011 on the Telarc label to accompany cellist Zuill Bailey in the Brahms sonatas for cello and piano. In 2023 he issued the contemporary recital Stillpoint on the New Amsterdam label, collaborating with the vocal group Roomful of Teeth and the ensemble A Far Cry.
He joined the faculty of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in 2004 and remained there until 2023, when he moved to the San Francisco Conservatory. He continues to give roughly thirty concerts each year throughout the United States and abroad while remaining active as both a conductor and a violinist.
Pratt’s father’s family in Sierra Leone placed high value on education and required every member to study piano or organ while also engaging in sports. Those priorities shaped his own upbringing; he took up both piano and violin as a child and, although he earned a national tennis ranking and received athletic scholarship offers, entered the University of Illinois at the age of sixteen to pursue music instead.
After finishing his studies at Peabody, Pratt won first prize in the Naumberg Competition in 1992, becoming the first African-American artist to claim that distinction and gaining his first real measure of financial security as a performer. The victory generated immediate career momentum, resulting in an exclusive contract with EMI and the Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1994. His debut recording, A Long Way from Normal, alluded to his childhood in Normal, Illinois.
Onstage he favors a low piano bench, retains his dreadlocks, and wears casual attire expressly to reduce the perceived formality of classical concerts. Listeners remark that the sound and his interpretive choices remain the central focus whenever he plays. Subsequent early recordings included Live from South Africa, a disc devoted to Beethoven sonatas, and the 2002 album Play Bach, recorded with the St. Lawrence String Quartet. After several years without new releases, Pratt returned in 2011 on the Telarc label to accompany cellist Zuill Bailey in the Brahms sonatas for cello and piano. In 2023 he issued the contemporary recital Stillpoint on the New Amsterdam label, collaborating with the vocal group Roomful of Teeth and the ensemble A Far Cry.
He joined the faculty of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in 2004 and remained there until 2023, when he moved to the San Francisco Conservatory. He continues to give roughly thirty concerts each year throughout the United States and abroad while remaining active as both a conductor and a violinist.
Albums
