Making 'Rounds': Pianist, orchestra play Ga. premiere

Feb. 24—VALDOSTA — Awadagin Pratt describes "Rounds" as "a delightful piece. It has a kind of rippling propulsive vibe, a very catchy theme and a simple and gorgeous middle section. Audiences have absolutely loved the piece."

Pratt is the renowned pianist joining the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra Saturday evening to play the Georgia premiere of composer Jessie Montgomery's "Rounds," said Howard Hsu, VSO music director.

Like stories of past composers creating classical music for specific musicians, Montgomery not only composed "Rounds" with Pratt in mind, the pianist contributed to its creation and even adds to it with each performance.

"We worked together as chamber musicians first as she's a violinist, so there's part of that collaborative spirit that's essential to the piece," Pratt told The Valdosta Daily Times. "We then discussed a couple of things once she'd written the piece. and with regards to the cadenza, I'd played a few ideas for her but then she has to trust what I'm doing each time.

"There are several tricky passages, overall it fits the hands well. I guess one of the most challenging things was coming up with the cadenza which is my own. Kind of like the old days. I also improvise a bit in the cadenza so it's different each night."

"Rounds" is Montgomery's first work for solo piano. Montgomery notes she "set the form of the work as a rondo, within a rondo, within a rondo. The five major sections are a rondo; section 'A' is also a rondo in itself; and the cadenza — which is partially improvised by the soloist — breaks the pattern, yet, contains within it, the overall form of the work."

A rondo is "an instrumental composition typically with a refrain recurring four times in the tonic and with three couplets in contrasting keys," according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

Montgomery notes she is grateful for Pratt's "collaborative spirit and ingenuity in helping to usher my first work for solo piano into the world."

Pratt has a formidable resume.

His piano studies began at the age of 6. At the age of 9, he began studying violin.

"My parents listened to classical music is kind of how I started," he said. "I knew I wanted to study music when I entered college at age 16. I didn't know I'd have a career until some time after I won the Naumburg Competition."

His website biography notes he "entered the University of Illinois where he studied piano, violin and conducting. He subsequently enrolled at the Peabody Conservatory of Music where he became the first student in the school's history to receive diplomas in three performance areas — piano, violin and conducting. In recognition of this achievement and for his work in the field of classical music, Mr. Pratt received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Johns Hopkins as well as an honorary doctorate from Illinois Wesleyan University after delivering the commencement address in 2012."

Pratt has performed throughout the United States, including performances at the Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, Chicago's Orchestra Hall and the N.J. Performing Arts Center.

Orchestral performances include appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra and the Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Baltimore, St. Louis, National, Detroit and New Jersey symphonies, etc.

Internationally, he has "toured Japan four times and performed in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Israel, Colombia and South Africa," according to his biography.

A few days after his Valdosta performance, Pratt is scheduled to play with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra March 2.

As he noted, winning the Naumburg International Piano Competition in 1992 started his career.

"Winning made it possible," he said, "no guarantees but here I am 30 years later. So that's nice."

In addition to Awadagin Pratt's piano performance on Montgomery's "Rounds," the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra will perform Balakirev's "Overture on Three Russian Folk Songs," Mendelssohn's "Son and Stranger Overture," Op. 89, Schubert's Symphony No. 8 in B Minor, D. 759 "Unfinished," 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, Whitehead Auditorium, Valdosta State University Fine Arts Building, corner of Oak and Brookwood. More information, tickets: www.valdostasymphony.org or call (229) 333-2150.