Awadagin Pratt, Back at the Keys
Awadagin Pratt, a classical pianist who has been playing internationally for over 20 years, will perform on Saturday at 7 p.m. as part of the 10th-anniversary celebration of Southampton Cultural Center’s Rising Stars Piano Series.
Born in Pittsburgh, Mr. Pratt began studying piano at the age of 6 and entered the University of Illinois at 16, where he studied piano, violin, and conducting. At the Peabody Conservatory of Music, he was the first student in the school’s history to receive diplomas in three performance areas. Mr. Pratt recently received Johns Hopkins University’s Distinguished Alumni Award.
The winner in 1992 of the Naumburg International Piano Competition, he has performed at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Chicago’s Orchestra Hall and many other venues here and abroad.
Mr. Pratt is currently professor of piano and artist in residence at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music. A Pianofest participant in the early ’90s, he has returned on several occasions as a mentor.
On Saturday, he will perform Liszt’s “Sonata in B Minor” and short works by Scarlatti, Couperin, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, and Fred Hersch. Tickets are $15, free for students under 21.