May 14, 2002 Pianist Awadagin Pratt, Artistic Director SELINSGROVE, (Pa.) --- WITF-FM's Next Generation Festival presents internationally known pianist Awadagin (pronounced ah-wah-dáh-jin) Pratt and friends in a chamber music concert at Susquehanna University Tuesday, June 11 at 7:30 p.m. in Degenstein Center Theater. The concert, one of six at various central Pennsylvania locations in June, is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. The Next Generation Festival affords chamber music lovers the opportunity to see new generations of classical talent and gives young musicians greater experience and exposure to the public. In addition, the festival offers a chance for people of all ages in a wide geographical range to learn to appreciate and gain a greater understanding of the varieties of classical music. "We're excited to hear that some of the most accomplished musicians from past years will be rejoining Artistic Director Awadagin Pratt in this sixth year of the Next Generation Festival," said Ellen Hughes, festival organizer and WITF-FM 89.5 producer/host. "Concertgoers will have a chance to see the versatility of Pratt when he plays the violin as well as the piano. It's been an honor to bring Pratt and friends to our community." The first student at Baltimore's Peabody Conservatory of Music to receive simultaneous degrees in piano, violin and conducting, Pratt is a winner of the 1992 Naumburg International Piano Competition. He was named one of the 50 Leaders of Tomorrow in Ebony Magazine's special 50th anniversary issue, and has been featured on National Public Radio's Performance Today, St. Paul Sunday and Weekend Edition. He has performed on the Today Show, Good Morning America and Sesame Street, and at the White House. The young artists who will perform with Pratt are Zuill Bailey, cello; Karen Bentley, violin; Amadi Hummings, viola; and Thomas Kraines, cello. A graduate of the Peabody Conservatory and The Juilliard School, Bailey is a powerful performer who dazzles audiences with his technical and artistic command of the cello. Last season he made his Carnegie Hall solo debut. Bentley, a graduate of Indiana University, is active in the San Francisco Bay Area as a violinist, violist, conductor and pianist. She has toured with Mikhai Baryshnikov's White Oak Dance Project, Barbra Streisand's 1994 concert tour, the New York Philharmonic and the Bolshoi Ballet. Hummings is an accomplished violist who was awarded the Performer's Certificate from Indiana University, where he received his master's degree. He has been a guest of the Chamber of Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Kraines is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School. He was a cellist with the renowned Peabody Trio and has performed in small ensembles with members of the Cleveland, Juilliard, and Mendelssohn quartets, and with jazz musicians Lionel Hampton and Paul Jeffrey. The performance at Susquehanna will include "Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 70, No. 1, 'Ghost'" by Ludwig van Beethoven, "November 19, 1828" by John Harbison, and "Quintet in C, D. 956" by Franz Schubert. Tickets for the Susquehanna University concert are free and may be ordered by calling the University's Office of Continuing Education at (570) 372-4354. Tickets are also available by calling The Box at Whitaker Center at (717) 214-ARTS. Sponsored by FIRST UNION, the annual festival is funded by generous donations from corporations, foundations and individuals. Public performances are also scheduled for Lebanon Valley College June 5 and 6; York College of Pennsylvania, June 7; Harrisburg Area Community College June 10; and Franklin & Marshall College June 12. Contact: Kelly Bugden 570-372-4119 #kmb/2783#