October 3rd Concert by pianist Awadagin Pratt to launch The Nina Simone and Samuel Waymon Music Scholarship Fund

Awadagin Pratt will perform at the Tryon Fine Arts Center on Saturday October 3rd. The concert benefits the Nina Simone & Samuel Waymon Music Scholarship Fund.

TRYON, NC, UNITED STATES, May 7, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The internationally known, pianist, conductor, educator and curator Awadagin Pratt will perform in Western North Carolina, at the Tryon Fine Arts Center (TFAC), on Saturday Evening October 3rd. The gala evening will benefit the newly launched Nina Simone and Samuel Waymon Music Scholarship Fund.

Mr. Pratt served as professor and artist in residence at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music for nineteen years. He is currently Professor of Piano at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and is the driving force behind the Nina Simone Piano Competition for African-American Pianists.

Since winning the Naumburg International Piano Competition in 1992 and receiving a 1994 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Awadagin Pratt has received acclaim for delivering “forceful, imaginative, and precisely tinted” performances (The Washington Post) and been hailed as “one of the great and distinctive American pianists and conductors of our time” (WGBH). He has appeared in venues as familiar as The White House (at the invitation of Presidents William Jefferson Clinton and Barack Hussein Obama) and Sesame Street (at the invitation of Big Bird).

Mr. Pratt has performed with the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, the New York Philharmonic, and many others; in solo recitals at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center; and in chamber music collaborations with cellist Zuill Bailey, pianist Simone Dinnerstein, and the Harlem and St. Lawrence String Quartets. His 2023 recording, Stillpoint, explores the truth and beauty in T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets through new works by Tyshawn Sorey, Paola Prestini, Peteris Vasks, Jessie Montgomery, Jonathan Bailey Holland, Alvin Singleton, and Judd Greenstein.

Honoring the dual legacies of the late singer and pianist Nina Simone (born Eunice Waymon) and her brother, pianist, actor, award winning composer and lecturer Dr. Samuel Waymon, the Nina Simone and Samuel Waymon Music Scholarship Fund has been created to support young musicians from throughout the Southeastern United States. Miss Simone (1933 - 2003) and Dr. Waymon (1944 - ) were both born in Tryon, NC and each received their initial musical training under the watchful eyes of Muriel Mazzanovich.

“Love Me or Leave Me”, a Cuban flavored duet featuring the Waymon siblings was successfully released worldwide by BMG and the Warner Music Group earlier this year. “Love or Leave Me” and Waymon’s fresh interpretation of the Curtis Mayfield classic “People Get Ready” are featured on the soon to be released Tumbao Experience album - produced by the Berlin based Berman Brothers (Frank and Christian) with arrangements by Demetrio Muñiz.

Reimagined through the rhythmic lens of Latin and Afro-Cuban traditions, the Tumbao Experience showcases contributions by an all-star lineup of legendary artists. The album also includes performances by Duke Ellington, Carmen McRae, Jimmy Scott and Josephine Baker.

Catered by The Hare and Hound, a post concert “meet and greet” will be held in the lobby of the Tryon Fine Arts Center immediately following Mr. Pratt’s October 3rd performance.

Fiscal sponsorship of the Nina Simone and Samuel Waymon Music Scholarship Fund is provided by The AFRICAN CONNECTIONS Research and Education Fund, Inc. (ACREF) - a federally recognized tax exempt organization.

The concert is coordinated by SQI Entertainment, a division of SportsQuest International, LLC. Use of the Tryon Fine Arts Center facility has been made possible through the generous support of music patrons Ben Cox and Elizabeth Cummings.

Tickets will be available from Monday, June 1st at the Tryon Fine Arts Center and via the ACREF website.

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The AFRICAN CONNECTIONS Research and Education Fund
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Awadagin Pratt plays Frederic Chopin's Nocturne, Op. 62, no. 1

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