Phillips Exeter Academy caps off its annual Gilbert Concert Series with a performance by international virtuoso Awadagin Pratt, on piano. An artist known for challenging the classical musical establishment, Pratt compels his fans to rethink the way music is perceived and heard. Among his peer of artists and performers, he is known for his musical interpretation and intensely involving performances that receive tremendous audience response and press attention. During this concert, Pratt will perform Franck: Prelude, Fugue and Variation, op.18; Brahms: Variations and Fugue in B flat on a Theme by Handel, op. 24; and Liszt: Sonata in B minor. The concert will be held on Tuesday, April 3, at 7:00 p.m. in Phillips Church, located on Tan Lane in Exeter. The event is free and open to the public.

Pratt began studying the piano at age 6 and the violin at age 9. As a boy, he listened to orchestral more than classical music. As a college student at the University of Illinois, he studied both violin and piano, and spent a season playing violin in the former Springfield Symphony Orchestra, now the Illinois Symphony Orchestra. It was then he realized he could use his talents in a professional career. After a few years at U of I, Pratt wanted to further his study of music and enrolled at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, where he studied as both a pianist and a violinist. Peabody also had a conducting program that he was interested in studying. Pratt became the first student in the school’s history to receive performer’s certificates in piano and violin, and a graduate performance diploma in conducting.

In 1992, at the age of 26, Pratt was the first African American classical instrumentalist to win first prize at the prestigious Naumburg Competition, and two years later was awarded a 1994 Avery Fisher Career Grant, given annually to the most promising concert artists for career development. In 1994, Pratt also released his debut CD, A Long Way From Normal, and since has released or contributed to six CDs of classical musical performances, including Terence Blanchard’s soundtrack for The Caveman’s Valentine, a film about a mentally-ill classical pianist.

Pratt has performed across the United States and worldwide, appearing at Lincoln Center in New York City; the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.; the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, and many other major symphony orchestras. He has appeared in many summer festivals including Ravinia, Blossom, Wolf Trap, Caramoor and Aspen. He has performed internationally in Japan, Germany, South Africa, Israel, Italy, Switzerland, Poland and throughout the Caribbean. His 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. In 1995, Ebony magazine named Pratt one of the 50 Leaders of Tomorrow in their 50th anniversary issue.

In September 2004, Pratt was appointed Assistant Professor of Piano and Artist-in-Residence at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

When describing the musical process, Pratt uses his favorite instruments—the violin and piano—as an example. “The violin gives you more direct contact with the process of making sound and more control of the sound being made,” he says. “With the piano, you can play harmony and counterpoint more effectively, and of course you can make a bigger noise, but the violin is best for chamber music.” Pratt hopes to eventually give violin concerts, performing both in chamber and solo.

For further information, please call the music department at (603) 777-3453. A complete list of upcoming events is available on the Phillips Exeter Academy public events line at (603) 777-4309 and on our website’s musical events page at http://www.exeter.edu/news_and_events/news_events_2990.aspx. For directions to Phillips Exeter Academy, call (603) 777-4330 or visit our website at http://www.exeter.edu/about_us/about_us_2156.aspx.

Phillips Exeter Academy is a coeducational, independent preparatory school that was founded in 1781 and originated the system of instruction known as Harkness teaching in 1931. In the spirit of its charter to foster both goodness and knowledge, students come from a wide variety of geographic, economic, racial and religious backgrounds. The diverse student body comes from approximately 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and 26 foreign countries.

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