Firebird

CONDUCTOR
Chloé Dufresne

With her clear technique, calm authority and imaginative palette, Chloé Dufresne has made her mark as a conductor only a few years since graduating from the Sibelius Academy. She has recently been appointed Music Director of Colorado Springs Philharmonic, and serves as Associate Artist of the Orchestre National de Bretagne and Artistic Director of Orchestre Ostinato.

A background in singing and choral conducting has led Dufresne naturally to opera, and in the 2024–25 season she conducted Carmen at Theater Magdeburg, Orphée aux enfers with Opéra national du Capitole de Toulouse, L’Elisir d’amore with Opéra National de Lorraine, and a new production of Leonard Evers’ Humanoid at Semperoper Dresden. Earlier productions include Don Giovanni, Norma, Albert Herring and Offenbach’s Pomme d’Api for Opéra Rouen, Opéra de Toulon, Opéra de Nice and Opéra National de Lorraine, as well as a Bayreuth production of Wagner’s The Ring for children at the Helsinki Festival. Alongside her commitments in Colorado, this season Dufresne conducts Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie Koblenz and Kuopio Symphony Orchestra.

In France, she returns to Orchestre National de Bretagne, Opéra Grand Avignon (with Offenbach’s La Belle Hélène) and Opéra National de Paris for Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera. As well as specializing in core repertoire by composers such as Debussy, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Dvořák and Beethoven, Dufresne is a strong advocate for new music and won a prize for her interpretation of music by Camille Pépin at the Besançon Conducting Competition.

In her role as Music Director of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic she will collaborate with contemporary composers including Wynton Marsalis, Hannah Kendall, Michael Daugherty and John Williams. She previously conducted music by György Ligeti, Lucas Ligeti and Hannah Kendall with Basel Sinfonietta, and works by Ross Edwards, Cecilia Damström and Ville Raasakka.

Dufresne studied viola, singing and choral conducting before completing her Masters in conducting from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki in 2020, where her teachers included Atso Almila, Sakari Oramo and Alain Altinoglu. In 2021 she won both audience and orchestra prizes at the Besançon Conducting Competition and was awarded 3rd prize at the Malko Competition. She was a Conducting Fellow at the 2022 Lucerne Festival and a Dudamel Fellow with Los Angeles Philharmonic.

PIANO
Awadagin Pratt

Renowned among his generation of concert artists, award-winning pianist Awadagin Pratt is celebrated for his profound musical insight, natural instinct, and deeply compelling performances—both in recital and with major symphony orchestras.

Born in Pittsburgh, Pratt began studying piano and violin at an early age and went on to study piano, violin, and conducting at the University of Illinois—at just 16 years old. He later 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.

In 1992, Mr. Pratt won the Naumburg International Piano Competition, and two years later was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Since then, he has performed numerous recitals across the United States, including appearances at Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center. His many orchestral engagements include performances with the New York Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, and the Pittsburgh and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestras, among many others. Summer festival appearances include Ravinia, Blossom, Wolf Trap, Caramoor, Aspen, and the Hollywood Bowl.

Also an experienced conductor, Mr. Pratt has led programs with the Toledo, New Mexico, Vancouver (WA), and Santa Fe Symphony Orchestras, as well as several ensembles in
Japan. Recent conducting highlights include the Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh, Porgy and Bess with Greensboro Opera, and a concert featuring the music of jazz great Ornette Coleman with Bang on a Can at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. In 2023, he began his tenure as Music Director of the Miami Valley Symphony Orchestra in Ohio.

Mr. Pratt’s recordings on Angel/EMI include A Long Way From Normal, an all-Beethoven sonata album, Live from South Africa, Transformations, and an all-Bach disc with the
St. Lawrence String Quartet. His most recent recordings include the Brahms Sonatas for Cello and Piano with Zuill Bailey for Telarc, and a recording of music by Judith Lang Zaimont with the Harlem String Quartet.

A passionate advocate for education and equity, Mr. Pratt created the “Black in America” program, which interweaves his personal stories of police encounters with live music performances by Pratt and students, followed by panel discussions on the state of race in America. A documentary on the program, produced by Michelle Bauer Carpenter, aired on 90 PBS stations across the country.

As Founder and Artistic Director of Art of the Piano, Mr. Pratt produces a spring festival that features performances and conversations with acclaimed pianists and educators. In partnership with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and Art of the Piano, he organized the inaugural Nina Simone Piano Competition for Black pianists, made possible by a grant from the Sphinx Organization.

Through the Art of the Piano Foundation, Mr. Pratt commissioned seven composers to create new works for piano, strings, and Roomful of Teeth. One of these commissions, Jessie Montgomery’s concerto An American Vocal Ensemble, won the 2024 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition. All seven works were recorded in 2022 with the chamber orchestra, A Far Cry for New Amsterdam Records.

In 2023, Mr. Pratt joined the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as Professor of Piano, following a distinguished 19-year tenure as Professor of Piano and Artist-in-Residence at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

In recognition of his contributions to music and education, Mr. Pratt has received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Johns Hopkins University, delivered multiple commencement
addresses, and received honorary doctorates from Berklee College of Music and Illinois Wesleyan University.

Awadagin Pratt is a Yamaha Artist. For more information, please visit www.awadagin.com.