American Pianist André Watts has Died, Aged 77

An acclaimed pianist and piano professor at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Watts has died of cancer

With a performance career that spanned over 60 years, American pianist André Watts was internationally celebrated as a musical and artistic legend. 

Born in 1946, in Nuremberg, Germany, Watts was a piano prodigy. After initial lessons in violin, he turned his attention to the piano, on which he received his first lessons from his mother.

Following his family’s move to America, Watts began playing with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the age of nine and attended the Philadelphia Academy of Music. At age 16, he made his New York Philharmonic debut with conductor Leonard Bernstein.

Winning a competition to play in Bernstein’s televised “Young People’s Concerts” series with the NY Phil in 1962, Watts was later asked by Bernstein to step in for pianist Glenn Gould in a solo New Year’s Day concert — a performance that drew Watts international fame.

From then on, he appeared with the Berlin and Israel Philharmonics, the London Orchestra, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, plus the Chicago, St. Louis, Houston, and Indianapolis symphonies. 

By age 20, Watts was booked for 150 performances per season, three years in advance. He completed his education at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University in 1972.

In 1976, one of his performances aired on “PBS Live from Lincoln Center,” becoming the first full-length recital broadcast in the history of national television. Additionally, Watts was a featured performer on the hit children’s series “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”

In 2004, he joined the faculty of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music as a professor of piano and the endowed chair in music. The school later appointed him as a distinguished professor.

Also a prolific recording artist, Watts released various works on the CBS Masterworks, Telarc, and EMI labels, and was included in the “Great Pianists of the 20th Century” series for Philips, and the 2016 “Andre Watts: The Complete Columbia Album Collection,” on Sony Classical.

At age 26, Watts became the youngest person to receive an honorary doctorate from Yale University and garnered numerous honors from the University of Pennsylvania, Brandeis University, Juilliard School, and Peabody Conservatory.

A 1964 GRAMMY Award winner and a 1995 Emmy Award nominee, his other accolades included the 1990 George Peabody Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Music in America, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s honorific knighthood — the Order of the Zaire.

In 2011, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama, in addition to being inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2014 and 2017, respectively. Additionally, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2020 and was awarded the American Liszt Society Medal in 2022.

“He was a very dedicated and caring teacher,” said Watts’ colleague and friend, Evelyne Brancart. “And he was communicating, not only music and piano, but deep life wisdom and profound musical insights.”

“André Watts was a treasured and beloved musician, teacher, colleague and friend to so very many,” added Abra Bush, the David Henry Jacobs Bicentennial Dean. “His graceful, elegant presence at the Jacobs School of Music will be deeply missed.”

Our condolences to Mr. Watt’s family, friends, students, and colleagues.