Awadagin Pratt

Assistant Professor of Piano

Artist-in-Residence
College-Conservatory of Music
University of Cincinnati
P0 Box 210003
Cincinnati, OH 45221-0003
telephone: 5l3-556-2063
fax: 513-556-9641
Awadagin.Pratt@uc.edu

Throughout his childhood, Pratt devoted his time to piano, violin and tennis, but eventually determined music to be his passion as he began college at age 16 at the University of Illinois. He then transferred to the Peabody Conservatory of Music where he was the first student to receive a performer's certificate in piano and violin as well as a graduate performance diploma in conducting. His win at the Naumburg Competition, where he was the first African-American classical instrumentalist to win first prize, skyrocketed his career and over the next few years he gave over 100 recitals including concerts in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

In 1994 he was awarded the Avery Fisher Career Grant and also released his debut CD A Long Way From Normal, followed by Beethoven Piano Sonatas, Live From South Africa and Transformations. He also played piano on Terence Blanchard's soundtrack for The Caveman's Valentine, a film about a mentally ill classical pianist. He has performed worldwide in Japan, Germany, South Africa, Israel, Italy, Switzerland and Poland, as well as with the major symphony orchestras in the U.S. He has also performed on NPR's Performance Today and Weekend Edition, the Today Show, CBS Sunday Morning, Good Morning America and Sesame Street. He was a featured soloist on PBS's Live from Kennedy Center - A Salute to Slava and performed twice at the White House during the Clinton administration including the State Dinner for South African president Thabo Mbeki.

Pratt has studied with Leon Fleisher, Robert Weirich, Ian Hobson and Daisy deLuca Jaffe. He is artistic director of the Next Generation Festival and an advocate of arts education, actively participating in outreach activities involving master classes, recitals, demonstrations and talk back session for students of all ages. Increasingly active as a conductor, he has conducted the Toledo, New Mexico, Winston-Salem, Santa Fe and Prince George's County symphonies.

Professor Pratt has been a member of the CCM faculty since 2004.