Awadagin Pratt was born in Pittsburgh in 1966. He began studying piano at the age of six. When he was nine, his family moved to Normal where both his parents, Theodore and Mildred Pratt, became professors at Illinois State University.
In addition to piano, the young Pratt took lessons in violin and tennis, excelling in all three. At the age of 16, he entered the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on a violin scholarship but studied the piano as well. Deciding to transfer to a music conservatory, he was accepted as both a piano and violin student at the Peabody Conservatory of Music. Subsequently, he became the first student in the school’s history to receive diplomas in three performance areas—piano, violin, and conducting.
When he was a 26 year old pianist in 1992, he won the prestigious Naumberg Competition in New York. Pratt has performed all over the world. His debut CD, “A Long Way from Normal” issued in 1994, was but the first in an extensive discography.
The collection includes newspaper articles, magazine articles, publicity releases, concert advertisements, concert programs, a biography, and miscellaneous items.