Think "acclaimed African-American classical pianist," and almost certainly Awadagin Pratt, with his dramatic dreadlocks, petite piano seat and tremendous talent, is the one artist who comes to mind.
Certainly it's so in the Virgin Islands, where he has performed on four different occasions, most recently last year in Tillett Gardens and at the St. John School of the Arts.
In the coming week, however, that may change – after Terrence Wilson makes his debut at the same two venues.
Wilson will appear on Wednesday, March 14, at the St. Thomas arts complex and on Thursday, March 15, at the St. John school.
"This is a young man with a very big future," Classics in the Garden concert series producer Rhoda Tillett says. "We feel fortunate that he is available to share his artistry with us at this stage of his career."
At 25, Wilson has not yet attained the status of an Awadagin Pratt – but give him a few more years. He has impressed critics and orchestra conductors across the nation and is a fast-rising star in the rarefied realm of classical piano, in spite of roots that seemed unlikely to push him in that direction.
The Baltimore Sun hailed him for "a sound that is beautiful at all dynamic levels, near-infallible fingers and … a sense of rhythm stable enough to shape music with authority and flexible enough to let it breathe." The Philadelphia Inquirer commended him for discarding "many of the usual gestures in favor of some brash ones, and sometimes poetic ones." And the Cincinnati Enquirer described him as a pianist "endowed with a facile technique, tremendous power and the natural ability to make a melody sing."
He tuned in and was turned on
Wilson's parents have musical backgrounds – his mother had been the lead singer in a rock 'n' roll band and his father, a vocalist with an r&b and rock group. So it wasn't surprising that by the age of 8 he was picking out Stevie Wonder tunes on an electronic keyboard.
But that was the year young Terrence's music appreciation took an unexpected turn.
He was cruising the stations on the radio dial one day when he came to one playing classical music – Chopin, to be exact. Fascinated, he became an ardent fan of the station, New York's WNCN, and of the musical genre. More important, he soon demonstrated his own uncanny ability to play classical works that he had only heard on the air or on recordings.
At the time, the Wilsons didn't have a piano in their home in the Bronx, but Terrence soon found his way to teachers, friends and patrons who did. At 9, he had his first formal piano lesson, at a neighborhood community school. Two years later, he won a Brooklyn Arts and Culture Appreciation competition, enrolled in New York's Professional Children's School and began taking Saturday classes in music theory at the Manhattan School of Music. Today, while pursuing his performance career, he continues his studies as a scholarship student at New York's Juilliard School, where he is a recipient of the prestigious Sony ES Award for Musical Excellence.
Wilson was all of 16 when he made his professional debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra – after previously having performed with that orchestra as the winner of its student competition. Later that year, he told The New York Times that he had no trouble coping with pre-performance jitters: "Once I sit at the piano and start to play, I just let the music happen," he said.
He was 19 when he gave a pre-concert recital at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York's Avery Fisher Hall. In recent years, he has performed with the American Composers Orchestra in New York public schools as part of the Carnegie Hall LinkUp outreach program.
As he points out to youngsters who admire him as a role model now, practice has a lot to do with approaching perfection as a performing artist.
In an interview at the age of 21 with WXXI Online's "Assignment: the World," he acknowledged that hardly any kid is likely to love practicing the piano three to five hours a day, something he did in his teens. But, he added, "I think one needs to understand that the goal of practicing is not just for it to be enjoyable, but for improvement to be made." How much improvement? Enough "so that by the time the college years roll around, you have a good enough grasp of the instrument to get into a good music conservatory."
This season, Wilson's tour schedule also includes appearances with the Baltimore, Cincinnati, Colorado, Charlotte, Syracuse and Winnipeg Symphonies. Last season, he performed on such prestigious stages as those of the Cleveland Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony and the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Local concert information
The coming recitals represent Wilson's second appearance in the Virgin Islands, although his first in the territory. He performed a year ago in a Classics in the Atrium program at H. Lavity Stoutt Community College on Tortola. Concert series coordinator Emma Baker recalls that the recital "went over exceptionally well here. We had a full house. He was energetic; he related to the audience very well."
For his coming performances, he will play a program of sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, Padre Antonio Soler, Franz Schubert and Johannes Brahms.
The Tillett Gardens recital on Wednesday begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 in advance and at the door. Polli's Restaurant in the garden offers a three-course, pre-performance dinner from 6 p.m. that costs an additional $30 plus bar service and gratuity. Dinner patrons remain seated at their tables for the concert. Reservations are required for dinner and are recommended for theater-only patrons, as seating is numbered. They may be made, and further information may be obtained, by calling 775-1929, faxing to 775-9482 or e-mailing to tillett@islands.vi.
The St. John School of the Arts recital on Thursday begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 for general admission and $15 for students with I.D. They are being sold in advance at Connections and, if not sold out, will be available at the door. Seating is not reserved. For additional information, call 779-4322 or 776-6777.
