Pianist Andre Watts, whose televised debut with the New York Philharmonic as a 16-year-old in 1963 launched an international career of more than a half-century, has died.

Watts made his New York Philharmonic debut in a Young People’s Concert led by music director Leonard Bernstein. Two weeks later, Bernstein asked him to substitute for the ailing Glenn Gould in performances of Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1, thus launching his career

Nominated for five Grammy Awards, Watts received a 2011 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal from then-President Barack Obama.

He died at his home Wednesday of prostate cancer. He was 77