André Watts

André Watts (born June 20, 1946, Nürnberg, Germany—died July 12, 2023, Bloomington, Indiana, U.S.) was a German-born American pianist who was known for a surpassing technique and understated manner that made him a favored concert performer.

Watts was born in Germany, where his father, an African American soldier, was stationed; his mother was a Hungarian refugee and accomplished pianist. He grew up on military bases until age eight, when his family moved to Philadelphia. The next year he made his debut at a Philadelphia Orchestra children’s concert. Watts attracted wide attention when at age 16 he performed on television under conductor Leonard Bernstein. At 17 he won a Grammy Award for most promising new classical recording artist (1963) for his recording of Franz Liszt’s Concerto No. 1 For Piano & Orchestra.

Though already a mature musician, Watts chose to continue study with Leon Fleisher and earned a bachelor’s degree in music (1972) at the Peabody Institute, Baltimore. In 1976 he gave a concert that was the first live TV broadcast of a solo recital in history. His popularity continued into the 21st century. Watts’s repertory centred on the Romantics, such as Liszt, Frédéric Chopin, Claude Debussy, Edward MacDowell, and Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov. He was the recipient of numerous honours, including the Avery Fisher Prize (1988) and the National Medal of Arts (2011).