Watts made his national concert debut when he was 16 years old with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic. Shortly after, he was asked to substitute in place of Glenn Gould with the Philharmonic. That performance is credited with launching Watts’ career.

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He received the Avery Fisher Prize in 1988, a top honor for American classical musicians. He was the youngest recipient of an honorary doctorate from Yale at 26. In 2011, Watts received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama, and in 2014, he was inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame.

Watts performed with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

“The first thing I ever wanted to be was a writer, and somehow that didn't work out,” Watts said in the same interview about his career. “I wanted to tell stories. So now, as a concertizing pianist, I'm reduced to trying to tell stories at the piano through music.”