College of Charleston International Piano Series
Bringing world-class artists to Charleston’s center stage
The International Piano Series (IPS) is Charleston's longest running, year-round program with a pure focus on piano. IPS plays a distinctive role in the lives of students and the community by implementing excellence in the arts and education and cultivating piano music appreciation. Learn more
2022-2023 SEASON at Sottile Theatre
AWADAGIN PRATT (Tuesday, March 28) | Ticket info
Among his generation of concert artists, pianist Awadagin Pratt is acclaimed for his musical insight and intensely involving performances in recital and with symphony orchestras. His CofC performance will include works by Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Liszt and Glass.
Recent and upcoming appearances include recital engagements in Baltimore, La Jolla, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Ravinia, Lewes, Delaware, Duke University and at Carnegie Hall for the Naumburg Foundation.
Born in Pittsburgh, Pratt began studying piano at the age of six, and at the age of 16 he entered the University of Illinois where he studied piano, violin and conducting. He subsequently enrolled at the Peabody Conservatory of Music where he became the first student in the school's history to receive diplomas in three performance areas – piano, violin and conducting.
A winner of the Naumburg International Piano Competition and a recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant, Pratt has played numerous recitals throughout the U.S. including performances at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. His many orchestral performances include appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra and the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Atlanta, St. Louis, National and Detroit symphonies among many others. Summer festival engagements include appearances at Ravinia, Blossom, Wolftrap, Caramoor, Aspen and the Hollywood Bowl.
In 2009, Pratt was one of four artists selected to perform at a classical music event at the White House that included student workshops hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama, and performing in concert for guests including President Obama (see video below). He has performed two other times at the White House, both at the invitation of President and Mrs. Clinton.
Pratt is currently Professor of Piano and Artist in Residence at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati and in July 2023, joins the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as Professor of Piano. READ FULL BIO
TICKETS: George Street Box Office (Tue-Fri, 10am-4pm) can take your order by phone at 843.953.GSBO (4726), by email, or in person at the Sottile Theatre (44 George St.) All attendees must obtain tickets (free or paid). Online links:
- INDIVIDUAL TICKETS ($30 adults, FREE for youth 18 & under with student I.D. at the door)
- CofC students can purchase $10 tickets at online student portal or in person at box office.
- CofC employees can reserve FREE tickets at online faculty/staff link or in person at box office.
Each year, IPS stages concerts for pianists hailing from the United States and around the world. While on campus, the guest artists offer masterclasses in which students perform and receive critique. These masterclasses are open to the public. The performers range from young professionals emerging onto the world stage to seasoned artists with long-established careers. They all bring their unique approach to their instrument and contributions to the field.
As such, they are role models to our students and a source of sophisticated entertainment for our community. The concerts take place in the College's historic, newly restored Sottile Theatre. Funded entirely by donations and ticket sales, the performances are offered to the community at affordable prices and are free for youth under the age of 18. Proceeds from ticket sales and donations ensure the longevity of the program and support educational opportunities for music students.
PAST CONCERTS IN 2022-23 SEASON
John Milbauer (Tuesday, Jan. 31)
Steinway Artist John Milbauer has recently performed in China, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, and Japan as well as throughout the United States. Highlights of the past two seasons include Ravel's Concerto in G with the Boston Pops and Keith Lockhart in Boston's Symphony Hall, Poulenc's Aubade with San Diego Winds, recitals with Stephanie Houtzeel of the Vienna State Opera, residencies with the Conservatorios Nacionales Superiores of Sevilla and Jaén in Spain, and a tour of major cities in China.
Avery Gagliano (Tuesday, Nov. 1)
“Avery Gagliano is a distinctive young talent who has already graduated to the big league of professional pianists while still a student at music college.” – International Piano Magazine
Having recently made her Carnegie Hall debut and released her debut album “Reflections” on the Steinway & Sons label, 21-year-old pianist Avery Gagliano captures audiences with her sensitivity, emotional depth, and musical expression. She gained international attention as the First Prize and Best Concerto Prize winner of the 10th National Chopin Piano Competition, and was the only American semifinalist at the 18th International Chopin Competition in 2021. Her success has taken her to stages and concert venues such as the Gilmore Festival, Verbier Festival, Ravinia Festival, Warsaw Philharmonic Hall and Carnegie Hall.
Her performance for our International Piano Series includes Bach's French Suite; Chopin Mazurkas, Barcarolle and Scherzo; and Schubert Impromtus.
Marina Lomazov (Tuesday, Sept. 13)
Praised by critics as “a diva of the piano” (The Salt Lake City Tribune), “a mesmerizing risk-taker” (The Plain Dealer, Cleveland), and “simply spectacular” (Chicago International Music Foundation) Ukrainian-American pianist, Marina Lomazov, has established herself as one of the most passionate and charismatic performers on the concert scene today. Generously sponsored by the Remington Master Artist Series.
View Lomazov's performance of Rachmaninoff's Prelude in G major, Op. 32, No. 5
PAST CONCERTS IN 2021-22 SEASON
Will Liverman & Paul Sanchez (Tuesday, April 19)
Internationally recognized operatic baritone Will Liverman and acclaimed pianist Paul Sánchez will debut to Charleston their Grammy-nominated, Billboard chart-topping album, Dreams of a New Day: Songs by Black Composers. The album highlights Black composers across generations, from early 20th-century pioneers Henry Burleigh, Margaret Bonds and Thomas Kerr, to Robert Owens, Leslie Adams and contemporary composers Damien Sneed and Shawn E. Okpebholo. Presented by the Quattlebaum Artist in Residence Fund.
- CofC Chief Diversity Officer Rénard Harris will lead a pre-concert talk with some of the artists, including Charleston's first Poet Laureate, Marcus Amaker, who wrote text for part of the album's centerpiece song, "Two Black Churches,” a devastatingly beautiful song that reflects on tragic events perpetrated by white supremacists: the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Ala. (1963) that took the lives of four girls; and the Mother Emanuel AME Church shooting in Charleston, S.C. (2015) that killed nine parishioners.
- TICKET LINK for general public ($30, FREE for youth 18 & under)
- CofC employees & students can reserve FREE tickets thru box office: gsbo@cofc.edu, 843.953.4726 or in person at Sottile Theatre. (CofC students also can reserve tickets via online student portal.)
Fabiana Claure & William Villaverde (Feb 8)
Husband and wife, Latin-American pianists William Villaverde and Fabiana Claure will present a musical program entitled A Piano Journey Through Latin America. Works include Bolivian Cuecas, Brazilian tangos, Cuban classical and jazz-inspired music, an original Latin jazz composition and a 4-hands piano arrangement of Piazzolla's "Tango Suite." Having been together for 20 years as a couple and on stage, this dynamic duo will engage audiences through piano music and storytelling, taking them through an exciting journey of diverse cultural influences, historical context and musical reflection. Both artists are alumni of the College of Charleston's Department of Music.
Bobby Mitchell (Oct 12)
American pianist Bobby Mitchell will open the 31st season of the College of Charleston International Piano Series. Mitchell is an American pianist whose interests are embedded in the here and now of music as performance art, as well as the more standard classical repertory of centuries past. A frequent performer of new and rarely heard works, he is interested in the contemporary music canon and combining these works with the standard repertoire in an illuminating fashion. An instrumentalist who is not afraid to cross the traditional boundaries of programming and performance practice, he is active as a solo and collaborative concert pianist on modern and historical instruments and is also experienced in the fields of improvisation, composition and conducting.
Mitchell will premiere the College’s new Steinway Hamburg Model D Concert Grand Piano with a program of Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Concert sans orchestre, Op. 14 by Robert Schumann; and the Franz Liszt transcription of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 with vocalists Saundra DeAthos-Meers, Lisa Chavez, Edward Brennan, and David Templeton.
Generously sponsored by the Remington Master Artist Series.
Volodymyr Vynnytsky (Nov 2)
Acclaimed Ukrainian pianist Volydymyr Vynnytsky will perform an ambitious program of two full Chopin Piano Sonatas (Sonata in B-flat minor, No. 2 and Sonata in B-minor No. 3), among other surprises. A laureate of the Margueritte Long-Jacques Thibaud International Piano Competition in Paris, Vynnytsky has performed with leading orchestras and has appeared in solo recitals in prestigious concert halls, including Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Steinway Hall, the Phillips Gallery (Washington, D.C.), the Great (Bolshoi) Hall at the Moscow Conservatory, the Theatre Champs d'Elysees, Amphitheatre Richelieu de la Sorbonne, Salons de Boffrand de la Presidence du Senat (Paris), St. John's Smith Square (London), Philharmonic Big Hall of Columns (Kyiv), Odessa Philharmonic Theatre (Ukraine), Tsai Performance Center (Boston), Teatro de Santa Isabel (Recife, Brazil), Linder Auditorium (Johannesburg) and Baxter Theatre Centre Concert Hall (Cape Town, South Africa), among many others.