Auburn Citizen on Awadagin Pratt: 'Powerful Performance'

[Jill Connor / The Citizen - Awadagin Pratt plays Beethoven’s “Sonata in A-Flat Major, Op. 110” for his first song at the Adams Foundation Piano Series at Westminster Presbyterian Church on Sunday.]

The Citizen

Auburn, New York

Justin Murphy

AUBURN - “Internationally acclaimed pianist Awadagin Pratt performed Sunday afternoon for a full house of classical music aficionados at Westminster Presbyterian Church. Pratt, dressed all in black with a band of dreadlocks hanging between his shoulder blades, leaned back and leaned in as he played. He sucked in air and stamped on the pedals of a nine-foot Steinway piano in front of the church's newly restored Tiffany stained glass window.

“Throughout the concert, the crowd sat transfixed, standing to cheer between pieces. 'I have never heard a pianist play with such force and make it sing,' said Lilliana Kang, who is part of the committee that brought Pratt to Auburn. 'Aren't we lucky?'

“The concert was part of the Adams Foundation Piano Series, which arranges piano concerts in cities across the country. It was started by Auburn pianists John and Richard Contiguglia and philanthropist Stephen Adams. This is the 10th season of performances in Auburn. Pratt opened with Beethoven's Sonata in A-flat Major. His left hand wandered morosely like a man walking through an old house while his right hand tinked delicately, waxing and waning through the dappled notes. Throbbing, swollen crescendos resolved gently in the wistful third movement.”