Sad news: Andre Watts has died
RIPThe American pianist, who was struggling with cancer, has died aged 77. He was professor at the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University.
The son of an African-American serviceman and a Hungarian mother, born in June 1946, Watts lived in Europe until the age of 8. At 16 he played the first Liszt concerto with Leonard Bernstein on national television. Before the month was out, Bernstein booked him again in place of Glenn Gould.
Watts maintained his fame and made multiple recordings.
UPDATE: Statement by Jacob School of Music:
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music is deeply saddened to announce the death of André Watts, distinguished professor of piano and the Jack I. and Dora B. Hamlin Endowed Chair in Music, on Wednesday, July 12, at age 77.
Joining the Jacobs School of Music faculty in 2004, Watts was recognized as a legendary statesman of the art form and a piano superstar, celebrated across the globe as a musical genius. His performance career spanned more than 60 years.
“André Watts was a treasured and beloved musician, teacher, colleague and friend to so very many,” said Abra Bush, David Henry Jacobs Bicentennial Dean. “His graceful, elegant presence at the Jacobs School of Music will be deeply missed.”
How sad to hear. Another fine pianist gone. Last weekend I was enjoying his recording of the Tchaikovsky 1st concert with Yoel Levi. He made so many fabulous recordings but at least I did get to hear him live once. RIP.
This is indeed very sad news. Andre was one of the finest artists of his generation. Flawless technique, incredible command of dynamics and possessing one of the most singing legatos one could produce on the piano. He was also a gentlemen, raconteur, and full of life. We will all miss him greatly.
Maestro I agree. He was as much a gentleman as he was a piano vituoso.
What a pleasure Bernstein had working with Andre as opposed to Glenn Gould with whom he could never agree.
So very true Maestro Slatkin
As an African American musicologist, Andre Watts remains the titan of role models who inspired generations of aspiring young classical musicians of color. I was one of them.
I was one of the many thousands of young kids– an 8 year old piano student in the Preparatory Division of The School of Music at University of Southern California– who saw him in that historic 1963 Young People’s Concert.
I agree with the evaluation of another, Andre Watts was the most one phenomenal American pianist of his generation to succeed the great William Kapell.
Rest in Power, Andre Watts
Yes, Lenny, well said. Andre was a dear friend and a great performer and teacher he will be missed by all. May his memory be a blessing.
I am heartbroken to learn of his passing. It was an honor to accompany him in a Beethoven cycle, and concertos by Grieg, Rachmaninoff, and Saint-Saens. Despite having played these works many times, he still insisted on spending many hours working out the fine details of his and our interpretations. I learned so much from him, and will forever appreciate his absolute dedication to the music above all else.
Spoke about him just the other day as being one of the most memorable performing artists in my career. His interpretations were electrifying.
And here is Watts playing the Liszt 1st Concerto with Bernstein on National television – at 16 years old, this was his world-wide debut! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7idQsqw9Tc
YouTube also has Watts and Bernstein doing the opening movement of Brahms 2, listed under “Alumni Reunion.”
Possibly the biggest pianist this country has produced since Kapell. Big mind and heart, and blessed with incredibly powerful and agile hands. He was an extremely accurate player and more importantly, he understood how to engineer sound production in the hall at all dynamic levels for maximum effect. The public loved him but somehow the critics were not all completely on board. I don’t know why. He was the complete package; a thrilling artist.
You don’t know why? Racism is evil and has denied more than one Black American musician the credit due them. Add James DePriest, Dean Dixon, Calvin Simmons, Michael Morgan, and many others to the list. For some inexplicable reason, American culture is ok with classical musicians from Latin America, but if you’re Black…oh boy…
Oh, stop it. There is no evidence of your assertion other than a fevered imagination. Watts had an enviable career, was paid very high fees and enjoyed the adoration of the public wherever he went. If you have evidence of some critic’s racism, please show the receipts.
Here we go…
I am so saddened by this news. André was one of the most influential musicians in my own life, a brilliant and sensitive artist who became a trusted personal friend. He was one of the keyboard giants of the 20th-21st centuries and has left an important and thrilling legacy to treasure for all time.
Mourning for a “fellow Hungarian” and noting that besides all his accomplishments, a “local angle” is that he was instrumental (on the piano and in effect) with Ruth Felt in the creation of San Francisco Performances… R.I.P.
Sad news indeed. I was fortunate to work with Andre during my years with the Minnesota Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, and the St. Louis Symphony. We kept contact and our paths crossed again with the Dallas Symphony. He was a great artist and fabulous person who made a positive difference.
One the many recordings of Andre Watts that should be remembered is “Live in Tokyo,” a solo recital issued by CBS around 1980. A wonderfully varied piano program: Scarlatti, Haydn, Brahms, Ravel and Debussy.
One of the most respected pianists since Leonard Bernstein launched his career when Andre Watts was all of 16, he has maintained dignity and global respect as a musician, pianist and friend for many decades. I first attended his solo recital in the former Avery Fisher Hall in the 1970s, and his chamber music recital with violinist, Charles Treger in the Westbury Music Fair in the round, and later, one of his first performances of Grieg’s Piano Concerto during his US tour with the Bergen Philharmonic. But what I remember on a personal level, was our nearly two hours phone conversation before email in the late 1990s. We discussed music, but also the challenges of our profession. He was one of my idols while growing up, and knowing he is no longer with us physically, his legacy will live on for many of us, and for many years. He was a pianist’s pianist, playing everything with his trademark warmth, charm and genuine emotion.
We didn’t seem to hear about him outside the USA, which is a pity considering what’s been written below. A life well lived, I’d say, and now he’s mercifully free of cancer.
That’s a shame. He’s one musician not to missed. It’s not to late to listen to his recordings.
This is terribly sad news indeed. Andre Watts was truly one of the great legendary artists of my generation and I had the joy and privilege of hearing him perform in Southern California as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Pacific Symphony. His profound musicality, impeccable technique and the magnificent sound he created from the piano are all qualities that made his work unique and brilliant. He will be deeply missed.
I heard Andre Watts when I was about 12 years old, in the not-too-big town of Lübeck in Germany. He played the Tchaikovsky concerto with the local orchestra. Not my first concert, but it felt, somehow – different. Different than any concerts I had heard before. There was an energy in the air, an electricity that I had never encountered before.
Much later I realized that this is what world class artists can do. That day, about 50 years ago, I walked home as if on air. Mesmerized, transfigured, and I am not exaggerating. Thank you, Maestro Watts, for a never forgotten matinee, and RIP.
Hearing this sad news, I couldn’t stop my tears. The scene six years ago I accompanied my daughter to meet him at his studio flashed back like a movie. It was his affirmation of my daughter that cheered us up when we almost lost confidence in continuing to learn the piano. He generously spent a whole afternoon teaching my daughter four hours of free lessons and arranging for his student to give us a tour of the music school. In addition, he sent his driver to pick us up from the airport at night and send us to the airport in the early morning. Andre Watts had a great heart, and we miss him forever. I have been keeping his four hours of private lessons on my cell phone, which will become a treasure and memory forever for my daughter and me.
Sad indeed. I wonder how many people on this blog remember what a big deal Watts was in the 1960s and 70s. Apart from VanCliburn he was the biggest name in America for ticket sales and record sales. Having been endorsed by Bernstein his popularity was enormous. In an age when artists toured all the provincial orchestras and Community Concert series his name would be a guarantee of a subscription sell out. Of course he played with all the major orchestras but it was the ubiquitous nature of his appearances which drove subscriptions and record sales. Of course there were many other pianists but Andre Watts captured the imagination like no other [except for Cliburn]. RIP
When I was a teenaged piano student I sneaked backstage at Orchestra Hall in Detroit after Watts played the Brahms Concerto No. 2, and he couldn’t have been kinder or more gracious, even connecting me with another fan he’d just met so that we could exchange bootleg recordings of performances taped from television!
His were among the first records I collected.
I finally met him at the Amelia Island Festival several years ago, and he was modest and extremely gracious. A lovely musician and human being.
Another supreme and consummate performer has died. RIP Maestro.
Alas, the world mourns the passing of another one-of-a-kind musical genius! Can you imagine a heaven absolutely filled with all kinds of music?
One of the greatest ever. I watched his NYPhil debut as a child and was so moved. I’m in tears….He will be so missed.
Sad news. One of the finest artists of his generation. An unforgettable encounter was hearing him play both Brahms concerti in Chicago and later meeting him. My mother was there, and her experience ran deeper, as she heard him decades earlier in Philadelphia. The music world has lost one of the greats.
I grew up in Philadelphia and attended a local Quaker school. It may of interest to some that Andre Watts & Peter Serkin were in the same class one year behind me. Now both are gone, both too soon. A great loss for us here though maybe more music in heaven.
RIP Andre Watts-A very fine pianist no doubt. Terrific technique but also great sensitivity- a very rare combination- particularly in contemporary pianism- his inclusion in Philips ‘Great pianists of the Twentieth Century’ is well deserved- but I don’t think we hardly ever heard him in the UK. I know he taught at IU in his latter years- but was he much of a teacher- or was he just like so many other so called ‘distinguished’ professors at that institution who took on a very few which was good PR for a seriously flawed factory like conservatoire come university- whilst the rest (many very talented) were left with a bunch of duffers who were hardly inspiring or particularly helpful towards a concert career in any shape or form?
I first heard Andre Watts back in the summer of 1967 or 1968 when he was performing with the NYPhil in Sheep’s Meadow in Central Park and I was a college student. Later when I had graduated and lived in the Washington DC area, Maestro Rostropovich had allowed me to have a fellowship with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center. I attended rehearsals, and one performance weekly. Andre was performing the Beethoven Piano Concerti, so I was able to meet him personally. Later in the 1980s I brought my 2-year-old son Jonathan to a concert, and after went back stage. Andre Watts, the great pianist, came out of his dressing room, walked down the hall to us, stooped down and had a little conversation with my toddler. He was so kind. RIP Andre Watts.