Awadagin Pratt, piano

Pianist Awadagin Pratt has achieved high acclaim for his musical insight and performances. At the Peabody Conservatory of Music he became the first student in the school’s history to receive diplomas in three performance areas—piano, violin, and conducting. Pratt won the 1992 Naumburg International Piano Competition and two years later received an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Since then he has played numerous recitals and orchestral performances across the U.S. He has recorded with the St. Lawrence String Quartet, Zuill Bailey, and the Harlem Quartet, in addition to solo recording projects. Pratt is professor of piano at the College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) at the University of Cincinnati, artistic director of the World Piano Competition in Cincinnati, and artistic director of the Art of the Piano Festival at CCM.