ABOUT THE ARTISTS |
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Christian Reif
Music Director of the Lakes Area Music Festival of Minnesota , German conductor Christian Reif has quickly established a name for himself as a fast-rising talent .
Reif ’ s 2021 – 22 engagements include appearances with the Hallé Orchestra ; Munich Radio Orchestra ; Norrlands Opera Orchestra ; Odense Symphony ; and the San Francisco , Baltimore , Cincinnati , New World , and Kansas City symphony orchestras . He leads a Juilliard Opera production of The Merry Wives of Windsor at Juilliard ’ s Peter Jay Sharp Theater in his New York City opera debut .
Reif is the former Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra , as well as the former Conducting Fellow with the New World Symphony and at the Tanglewood Music Center . He studied with Alan Gilbert at The Juilliard School and Dennis Russell Davies at the Mozarteum Salzburg . He is winner of the 2015 German Operetta Prize , awarded by the German Music Council , and two Kulturförderpreise awards given to promising artists of the region who promote cultural advancement in their communities .
Awadagin Pratt
Among his generation of concert artists , pianist
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Awadagin Pratt is acclaimed for his musical insight and intensely involving performances in recital and with symphony orchestras .
Pratt studied at the Peabody Institute where he became the first student in the school ’ s history to receive diplomas in three performance areas — piano , violin , and conducting .
In 1992 , Pratt won the Naumburg International Piano Competition and two years later was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant . Since then , he has played numerous recitals throughout the U . S . including performances at Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center . His many orchestral performances include appearances with the New York Philharmonic and the Atlanta , Baltimore , St . Louis , and Detroit symphonies . His most recent conducting activities include the Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh and the Greensboro Opera .
Pratt is currently a Professor of Piano at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati , as well as the Artistic Director of the Art of the Piano Festival .
Inspired by T . S . Eliot ' s Four Quartets and through the Art of the Piano Foundation , Pratt has commissioned seven composers — Jessie Montgomery , Alvin Singleton , Judd Greenstein , Tyshawn Sorey , Jonathan Bailey Holland , Paola Prestini , and Peteris Vasks — to compose works for piano and string orchestra or piano , string orchestra , and a Roomful of Teeth . All seven works will be recorded in summer 2022 .
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Christian Reif |
Awadagin Pratt |
Experience the Performance Again A livestream of this program is available for a limited time . A BSO Sessions Episode , featuring an interview with Christian Reif , will be released on June 22 . |
Simon Pauly
Rob Davidson
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FROM THE PODIUM |