André Watts successfully built on an initial burst of publicity as one of the first African Americans to achieve international fame in classical music. In later life, he was a noted educator. His career began early: by the age of 14, he was included on the Philadelphia Orchestra's regular schedule, playing Franck's Symphonic Variations. A breakthrough came two years later when conductor Leonard Bernstein invited him to perform on one of the New York Philharmonic's nationally televised Young People's Concerts. His successes from there were many. Watts' charisma made him a favorite among concert audiences in the U.S. and internationally. In 2004 he joined the faculty at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music. Despite health problems, he continued performing into senior citizenhood. Watts recorded for the Columbia Masterworks label and lived to see many of the recordings from his prime years reissued on EMI and Sony Classical.