Watts, Andre

Watts, Andre, brilliant American pianist; b. Nuremberg, June 20, 1946. He was born in a U.S. Army camp to a black American soldier and a Hungarian woman. His mother gave him his earliest piano lessons. After the family moved to the U.S., he studied with Genia Rob-iner, Doris Bawden, and Clement Perrillo at the Philadelphia Musical Academy. At the age of 9, he made his first public appearance playing the Haydn Concerto in D major at a children’s concert of the Philadelphia Orch. His parents were divorced in 1962, but his mother continued to guide his studies. At 14, he played César Franck’s Symphonic Variations with the Philadelphia Orch.; at 16, he became an instant celebrity when he played Liszt’s 1^st Piano Concerto at one of the televised Young People’s Concerts with the N.Y. Phil., conducted by Leonard Bernstein, on Jan. 15, 1963. His youth and the fact that he was partly black contributed to his success, but it was the grand and poetic manner of his virtuosity that conquered the usually skeptical press. Still, he insisted on completing his academic education. In 1969 he joined the class of Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Cons, of Music in Baltimore, obtaining his Artist’s Diploma in 1972. In the meantime, he developed an international career. He made his European debut as soloist with the London Sym. Orch. on June 12, 1966; then played with the Concertgebouw Orch. in Amsterdam. On Oct. 26, 1966, he played his first solo recital in N.Y, inviting comparisons in the press with the great piano virtuosos of the past. In 1967 he was soloist with the Los Angeles Phil. under Zubin Mehta on a tour of Europe and Asia. On his 21^st birthday he played the 2^ndPiano Concerto of Brahms with the Berlin Phil. In 1970 he revisited his place of birth and played a solo recital with a success that was made all the more sensational because he was a native son, albeit not of the native race. He also became a favorite at important political occasions; he played at President Richard Nixon’s inaugural concert at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., in 1969, at the coronation of the Shah of Iran, and at a festive celebration of the President of the Congo. In 1973 he toured Russia. On Nov. 28, 1976, he played a solo recital on live network television. He was also the subject of a film documentary. In 1973 he received an honorary doctorate from Yale Univ.; in 1975 he was given another honorary doctorate by Albright Coll. He celebrated the 25^th anniversary of his debut with the N.Y. Phil. as soloist under Zubin Mehta in the Liszt 1^stConcerto, the Beethoven 2^nd Concerto, and the Rachmaninoff 2^nd Concerto in a concert telecast live on PBS (Jan. 13, 1988). In 1988 he received the Avery Fisher Prize. In 1995 he marked the 40^th anniversary of his debut.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire