Among his generation of concert artists, pianist Awadagin Pratt is acclaimed for his musical insight and intensely involving performances that receive tremendous audience response and press attention throughout the United States.
DATE: March 9 2008, 3 PM
SITE: The Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts
PROGRAM
Among his generation of concert artists, pianist Awadagin Pratt is acclaimed for his musical insight and intensely involving performances that receive tremendous audience response and press attention throughout the United States.
Born in Pittsburgh, Awadagin Pratt began studying piano at the age of six. Three years later, having moved to Normal, Illinois with his family, he also began studying violin. At the age of 16, he entered the University of Illinois where he studied piano, violin, and conducting. He subsequently enrolled at the Peabody Conservatory of Music where he became the first student in the school's history to receive diplomas in three performance areas - piano, violin and conducting.
In 1992 Mr. Pratt won the Naumburg International Piano Competition and two years later was awarded a 1994 Avery Fisher Career Grant. He has played numerous recitals throughout the U.S. including performances in New York at Lincoln Center, Washington, D.C. at the Kennedy Center, Los Angeles at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and Chicago at Orchestra Hall. His many orchestral performances include appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Minnesota Orchestra and the Pittsburgh, St. Louis, National, Detroit and New Jersey symphonies. Major summer festival engagements include Ravinia, Blossom, Wolftrap, Caramoor and Aspen, the Hollywood Bowl and the Mostly Mozart Festival in Tokyo. Mr. Pratt is also the Artistic Director of the Next Generation Festival, a two-week chamber music festival in Lancaster, PA., tours with the Dedalus String Quartet and appears with cellist Zuill Bailey in duo recitals throughout the US.
Recent and upcoming appearances include recital engagements at the Kennedy Center and National Gallery in Washington, D.C., the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark and in La Jolla and Savannah, as well as return appearances with the orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Seattle, Colorado, Kansas City, Utah, Nashville and San Antonio.
As a conductor, Mr. Pratt has participated in American Symphony Orchestra League and Conductor's Guild workshops as well as in the National Conducting Institute, where he worked closely with Leonard Slatkin and conducted the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center. He has also conducted the Toledo, New Mexico, Winston-Salem, Santa Fe and Prince George County symphonies, the Concertante di Chicago and two orchestras in Japan.
A great favorite on college and university performing arts series and a strong advocate of music education, Awadagin Pratt participates in numerous residency and outreach activities wherever he appears; these activities may include master classes, children's recitals, play/talk demonstrations and question/answer sessions for students of all ages.
Internationally, Mr. Pratt has toured Japan four times and performed in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Israel and South Africa.
Awadagin Pratt has been the subject of numerous articles in the national press, including Newsweek, People Magazine, USA Weekend, New York Newsday, Emerge and Mirabella. He was named one of the 50 Leaders of Tomorrow in Ebony Magazine's special 50th anniversary issue and has been featured on National Public Radio's Performance Today, St. Paul Sunday Morning and Weekend Edition. On television, Mr. Pratt has performed on the Today Show, Good Morning America, and Sesame Street, been profiled on CBS Sunday Morning and was one of the featured soloists on PBS's "Live from the Kennedy Center - A Salute to Slava." He also performed twice at the White House at the invitation of President and Mrs. Clinton.
In September, 1993 Mr. Pratt signed an exclusive recording contract with Angel/EMI. His debut album, A Long Way From Normal, was released in 1994. Subsequent recital discs include an all Beethoven Sonata CD, Live from South Africa and Transformations. His most recent Angel/EMI recording is an all Bach disc with the St. Lawrence String Quartet.
Mr. Pratt is currently an Associate Professor of Piano and Artist in Residence at the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati.
Artist Website: www.awadagin.com
A multi-faceted musician of consummate virtuosity, Zuill Bailey has established himself as one of the most sought-after and active cellists today.
In the 2007/08 season Mr. Bailey performs with the Long Island and Buffalo Philharmonics, the Canton, Edmonton, Honolulu, Puerto Rico and Virginia Symphony orchestras, and regional orchestras in California, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Texas. Mr. Bailey also performs recitals throughout the country, with notable appearances at the National Gallery, the La Jolla Music Society in California and the complete Beethoven Cello Sonatas at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with pianist and frequent recital partner, Simone Dinnerstein. As the Classical Recording Foundation's 2006/07 winners, their recording of the complete Beethoven Cello Sonatas Vol. 1 was released last season to sweeping critical and commercial acclaim. Volume 2 is slated to be released later this season.
In recent years, Zuill Bailey presented concerts at the Kennedy Center, Alice Tully Hall, the 92nd St. Y., and Carnegie Hall. As a concerto soloist, Mr. Bailey has performed with the Chicago, Milwaukee, Toronto, Ft. Worth, Dallas, Utah, Louisville, Phoenix, North Carolina, Santa Barbara, and San Francisco Symphony orchestras. He has played concerts abroad in Australia, China, Mexico, Israel and Jordan; at the Manchester International Cello Festival; and toured Russia with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra on their 50th Anniverary Celebration. Mr. Bailey made his Carnegie Hall debut with the U.S. premiere of Miklos Theodorakis' Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra.
An avid chamber musician, Zuill Bailey performs regularly with the Perlman/Schmidt/Bailey trio (pianist Navah Perlman and violinist Giora Schmidt), with pianist Awadagin Pratt, and has appeared in concert with renowned musicians including Itzhak Perlman, Lynn Harrell, the Juilliard String Quartet, and Janos Starker. Recent festival appearances include returns to the Santa Fe, Savannah and Montreal Chamber Music festivals, the Bard Music Festival, Maverick Concerts, and performances at the Ravinia, Vail Valley, Chautauqua and Wintergreen festivals.
Mr. Bailey's television appearances include a nationally broadcast recital for NHK-TV in Japan; a performance of the Beethoven Triple Concerto broadcast live nationally from Mexico City; a televised appearance in Havana with the National Orchestra of Cuba in which he gave the Cuban premiere of Victor Herbert's Cello Concerto No. 2; featured appearances on HBO's hit series Oz; and an extended interview/recital on A&E's Breakfast with the Arts. Among Mr. Bailey's appearances on radio are his performances on Saint Paul Sunday Morning; XM Satellite Radio's Live from Studio II; SIRIUS Satellite Radio; a recital for RTHK Radio Hong Kong; and the BBC's In Tune program.
In addition to the complete Beethoven Cello Sonatas, Zuill Bailey's recordings include an upcoming disc of the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations and Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1; a live recording of the Saint-Saëns Concertos Nos. 1 and 2, (DE 3378); 2003's eponymous debut recital disk for Delos (DE 3326); the Korngold Cello Concerto with Caspar Richter and the Bruckner Orchester Linz for ASV (DCA 1146); and 2004's Janos Starker Celebration, a musical tribute to the legendary cellist, featuring Bailey and Starker in the Cello Quintets of Boccherini and Schubert.
A graduate of the Peabody Conservatory and The Juilliard School, Mr. Bailey's principal teachers were Loran Stephenson, Stephen Kates and Joel Krosnick. He performs on a 1693 Matteo Goffriller cello, formerly owned by Mischa Schneider of the Budapest Quartet. In addition to his extensive touring engagements, Mr. Bailey serves as Professor of Cello at the University of Texas-El Paso, and as the Artistic Director of El Paso Pro-Musica.
Flash! Click on the image here of the latest Strings Magazine cover to read a feature article on Zuill Bailey.