April 3, 2006
Brilliant and beloved pianist André Watts to perform a recital at UCSB Campbell Hall
Summary Facts:
- André Watts
- Watts, one of the most celebrated superstar pianists, is legendary for his intensity and virtuosity
- His program will include works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Debussy and Ravel
- Thursday, May 18 / 8 pm
- UCSB Campbell Hall
- General public: $45 / UCSB students: $19
- Tickets/information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535
André Watts, one of the most celebrated and beloved superstar pianists, acclaimed for his majesty, flair and musicality, will perform a recital on Thursday, May 18 at 8 pm in UCSB Campbell Hall. Watts burst upon the music world at the age of 16, when Leonard Bernstein chose him to make his debut with the New York Philharmonic in their Young People’s Concerts, broadcast nationwide on CBS-TV. Only two weeks later, Bernstein asked him to substitute at the last minute for the ailing Glenn Gould in performances of Liszt’s E-flat Concerto with the New York Philharmonic, thus launching his career in storybook fashion. Watts’ performances each year with the world’s great orchestras and conductors, sold-out recitals and appearances at the most prestigious international festivals bring him to every corner of the globe. The Dallas Morning News raves, “Piano playing doesn’t get any better than this.”
Watts’ involvement with television is unique in the field of classical music. His PBS Sunday afternoon telecast in 1976 was not only the first solo recital presented on Live from Lincoln Center, but the first full-length piano recital in the history of television. His 1985 Live from Lincoln Center performance was the first full-length recital to be aired nationally in prime time. Other TV appearances include an internationally telecast United Nations Day performance with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra; BBC presentations with the London Symphony and in solo recital; a rehearsal/performance documentary of a Mozart concerto with Zubin Mehta and the Los Angeles Philharmonic; and two separate PBS telecasts with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony in performances of the Liszt A-Major and the Saint-Saëns G-Minor concertos.
During the 1987-88 season, PBS broadcast his twenty-fifth anniversary concert from Lincoln Center in performances of concertos by Beethoven, Liszt and Rachmaninoff with the New York Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta. In 1993 he was a featured soloist in the Live from Lincoln Center telecasts of the opening of the Mostly Mozart Festival and the gala opening of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s twenty-fifth anniversary season. Most recently, he appeared in a special program highlighting the thirty-eighth annual Casals Festival in Puerto Rico aired nationally on the Arts & Entertainment Network in January 1995. His performance was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Individual Achievement in Cultural Programming. His most recent television appearances are with the Philadelphia Orchestra on the occasion of the orchestra’s 100th Anniversary Gala, a program broadcast nationwide as well as throughout Europe and Asia, and with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
A much-honored artist who has played before royalty in Europe and heads of government in nations all over the world, André Watts was selected to receive the Avery Fisher Prize in 1988. He is the youngest person ever to receive an Honorary Doctorate from Yale University, and in 1984 the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University honored Watts with its Distinguished Alumni Award. Watts has additionally received honorary degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, Miami University of Ohio, Albright College, Brandeis University, Trinity College and The Juilliard School of Music. Watts holds the Jack I. and Dora B. Hamlin Endowed Chair in Music at Indiana University where he has been teaching since 2004.
Watts’ program for his Santa Barbara recital includes: Mozart, Rondo in D, K. 485 and Rondo in A minor, K. 511; Beethoven, Sonata in D, Op. 10, No. 3; Schubert, Drei Klavierstücke, D. 946; Chopin, Etude, Op. 25, No. 7, Nocturne, Op. 27, No. 1 and Ballade, Op. 38; Ravel, selections from Miroirs; Debusy, Danse.
André Watts will teach a Corwin Master Class with UCSB piano students that is free and open to public observation on Friday, May 19 at 10 am at Geiringer Hall, UCSB Music Building. The class is co-presented by Arts & Lectures with the UCSB Department of Music.
André Watts is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and sponsored by Casa Santa Barbara, KDB Classical Radio and the Inn of the Spanish Garden. Tickets are $45 for the general public and $19 for UCSB students who must show valid ID at ticket purchase and the evening of the show. Ticket prices are subject to convenience fees. Tickets are on sale now and can also be purchased at the door, if still available.
For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.
Editor: For photos, please call
Colleen Debler at (805) 893-2098.