YOUNGSTOWN SYMPHONY SOCIETY Famed pianist Watts chose pianos for Ford, Powers

His musical education began at age 4.
By GUY D'ASTOLFO
VINDICATOR ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Internationally renowned pianist Andre Watts will play the new Ford Family Recital Hall for the first time Saturday.
But it won't be the first time he's played the Ford's piano.
That's because he selected it.
Patricia Syak, executive director of the Youngstown Symphony Society, explains.
"The last time Andre was in Youngstown a few years ago, he complained about the Steinway pianos at Powers Auditorium," said Syak, "and he agreed to pick out new ones for us."
Watts made good on the promise.
"In December, we met him at the Steinway factory on Long Island [New York]," Syak continued. "He went through six pianos, playing each one and taking notes on its quality, and which would be best for our needs. He spent 31/2 hours doing this.
"The president of the company came down and watched. He was impressed that we -- Youngstown -- had Andre Watts selecting our pianos."
Watts eventually decided on two pianos, one for Powers Auditorium and one for Ford Family Recital Hall, and they were purchased.
His recital Saturday starts at 8 p.m.
Biographical
Watts' brilliance was recognized early in his life, when Leonard Bernstein chose him at age 16 to make his debut with the New York Philharmonic in a nationally broadcast Young People's Concert. Two weeks later, Bernstein used Watts as a substitute for an ailing Philharmonic member, thus launching his career.
In the 45 years since that early performance, Watts has become a recognized superstar who has performed with nearly every major orchestra, and before royalty and heads of state in several countries.
He has appeared on numerous television specials. His 1976 New York recital, aired on the PBS program "Live from Lincoln Center," was the first full-length recital broadcast in the history of television.
He received the Avery Fisher Prize in 1988, which is awarded annually to an outstanding instrumentalist who is a U.S. citizen, and a Grammy Award in 1964.
Watts was born in 1946 in Nuremburg, Germany, the son of a black U.S. soldier and a Hungarian woman, and lived in Europe until age 8, when the family moved to Philadelphia. He began studying the violin at age 4 and began piano lessons at age 6. He studied at the Philadelphia Academy of Music and the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, graduating in 1972.
The first black concert pianist to achieve international superstardom, Watts today is one of the world's most in-demand pianists, both as a recitalist and a concert soloist.