Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Pianist Awadagin Pratt Plays Bach, Chopin, Liszt and Schumann in Coral Gables July 15


[Awadagin Pratt: Beethoven Piano Sonatas, EMI 55290 (1996)]

The African American classical pianist Awadagin Pratt, whose website is http://www.awadagin.com/, has been featured by AfriClassical several times. He will perform in the 25-year-old Annual Summer Concert Series at Coral Gables Congregational Church in Coral Gables, Florida on Thursday, July 15:

KnightArts.org
Published on July 7, 2010 by Gregory Stepanich
“Awadagin Pratt.
Next week, pianist Awadagin Pratt appears for a concert of music by Bach, Schumann, Chopin, and Liszt (the big Sonata in B minor). Pratt made a big splash on the classical scene almost 20 years ago as the first African-American to win the Naumburg Piano Competition, and since then he’s built a respectable career that includes well-received recordings and teaching at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory.

“I liked that he played Franck’s Prelude, Chorale and Fugue on his first disc (A Long Way From Normal, a reference to his central Illinois hometown), because it’s a good piece that has almost dropped out of the repertoire, and it deserves to be heard more often. Overall, he’s pursued a path closer to Richard Goode than Lang Lang: Like another well-known African-American pianist, André Watts, Pratt prefers the most challenging, most profound works of the canon as opposed to things with more flash. Pratt’s concert is set for 8 p.m. July 15.

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