Awadagin Pratt

Internationally renowned pianist Awadagin Pratt began studying piano at six and violin at nine. He entered the University of Illinois at 16, studying piano, violin, and conducting, later becoming the first student at Johns Hopkins University’s Peabody Institute to receive diplomas in all three performance areas. In 1992, Awadagin won the Naumburg International Piano Competition and in 1994 was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant. 

Mr. Pratt was one of four artists at a White House classical music event hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama for guests including President Obama and performed twice there at the invitation of President and Mrs. Clinton. His multi-media work Black in America received its world premiere with the New World Symphony in 2021. 

Mr. Pratt has performed at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and Chicago’s Orchestra Hall; with the New York Philharmonic and the Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Baltimore, St. Louis, National, Detroit symphonies; and in Germany, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, Poland, Israel, Columbia and South Africa. Recordings include the Brahms Sonatas for Cello and Piano with Zuill Bailey and the music of Judith Lang Zaimont with the Harlem Quartet. Professor of Piano at the College-Conservatory of Music, his is Artistic Director of the annual Art of the Piano Festival, one of Cincinnati’s premier arts events.