Awadagin Pratt, Piano

Awadagin Pratt presents a solo piano recital built around monumental works and the piano’s contrasting grandeur, lyricism, and poetic character. The first half features music by César Franck, François Couperin, and Johannes Brahms, followed after intermission by spirituals and contemporary American works, including pieces by Julius Eastman, Nathaniel Dett, Jeremy Jordan, Fred Hersch, and Mikael Darmanie.

Pratt is an acclaimed pianist, conductor, educator, and curator. He won the Naumburg International Piano Competition, received an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and has performed with major orchestras including the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras and the New York Philharmonic. His recital and chamber-music appearances include Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and collaborations with artists such as Zuill Bailey, Simone Dinnerstein, and the Harlem and St. Lawrence String Quartets.

When: Sunday, October 25, 2026, at 3:30 p.m.

Venue: Second Presbyterian Church, 4200 Saint Paul St, Baltimore, MD 21218.

Tickets: Free. No tickets or registration are required.

Program: The first half includes César Franck’s *Prelude, Fugue, and Variation*; François Couperin’s *Les Baricades Mistérieuses* and *Le Moucheron* from *Le Sixième Ordre in B-flat Major*; and Johannes Brahms’s *Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Handel, Op. 24*. After intermission, Pratt performs Julius Eastman’s *Touch Him When*, arranged by Pratt; Nathaniel Dett’s “As His Own Soul” from *8 Bible Vignettes*; Jeremy Jordan’s *Keyboard Suite No. 1*, comprising “Nocturne,” “Mazurka,” “Scherzo,” “Aria,” and “Chorale (Finale)”; Fred Hersch’s *Nocturne for the Left Hand Alone*; and Mikael Darmanie’s *Though I Walk*.

Lineup: Awadagin Pratt, piano.

Intermission: There is an intermission between the Brahms work and the second half of the program.

Artist: Pratt has performed at the White House at the invitation of the Clinton and Obama administrations and appeared on *Sesame Street*. He has conducted ensembles including the Miami Valley Symphony Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh, the Georgian Philharmonic Orchestra, and Bang on a Can at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, as well as making his operatic conducting debut with *Porgy and Bess* at Greensboro Opera.

Recent work: His 2023 recording, *Stillpoint*, explores T. S. Eliot’s *Four Quartets* through new works by composers including Tyshawn Sorey, Paola Prestini, Pēteris Vasks, Jessie Montgomery, Jonathan Bailey Holland, Alvin Singleton, and Judd Greenstein. His multimedia project *Awadagin Pratt: Black in America* combines music by Bach, Messiaen, and Liszt with film and narration about his life and experiences with racial profiling; a documentary version was screened at film festivals nationwide in 2023.

Education and advocacy: Pratt founded the Next Generation Festival and the Art of the Piano Foundation and is the founding director of the Nina Simone Piano Competition. After two decades as professor and artist in residence at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, he became a professor of piano at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Instrument: Pratt will perform on a special Hamburg Steinway concert grand piano provided and tuned by Mary Schwendeman.

Livestream: This concert will not be livestreamed.

Sponsor: The concert is sponsored by the Founder’s Fund in Memory of Margaret Budd, established in 2021 to honor Margaret L. Budd, the founder of Community Concerts at Second and former organist of Second Presbyterian Church.

Contact: Community Concerts at Second can be reached at 443-759-3309 or info@cc2nd.org.