Awadagin Pratt
April 11, 2015 10:02:46 PM
Awadagin Pratt doesn't conform to everyone's idea of a
concert pianist. With his dramatic dreadlocks and often novel wardrobe,
he is, one might say, unconventional. But it all works into his plan,
the one to break down barriers between audience and performer, to spark
interest in classical music among those not traditionally drawn to the
art form.
The Columbus Arts Council's Concert and Artist Series presents the
internationally-known virtuoso and recording artist Saturday at 7 p.m.
in the Connie Sills Kossen Auditorium of Poindexter Hall on Mississippi
University for Women's campus.
In an approximate 75-minute program, Pratt (his first name is pronounced
ah-wah-dah-jin) will perform compositions by Johannes Brahams, Johann
Sebastian Bach and Franz Liszt.
"The program is an interesting one," Pratt said via email Thursday. "It
kind of centers on the idea of variation -- different ways of looking at
something and different ways of developing ideas. Each piece, however,
even with the same kind of compositional technique, inhabits its own
spiritual and emotional world."
Columbus Arts Council Program Manager Beverly Norris said, "We've been
attempting to bring Mr. Pratt to the Golden Triangle for several years
now and are extremely pleased that his schedule finally allowed this.
His piano performances are very eloquent and powerful; the audience
can't help but be pulled into the experience."
Musical stand-out
Pratt, a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was the first student in
the history of the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore to receive
diplomas in three performance areas -- piano, violin and conducting.
Since winning the Naumburg International Piano Competition in 1992, the
first black pianist to do so, his career has taken him to perform three
times at the White House, as well as at the Kennedy Center and Lincoln
Center, among many other prominent venues in the U.S. and worldwide.
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