Javor Bracic
Instructor of Piano
The Croatian pianist Javor Bracic [YA-vor BRA-chich] was praised by New York Concert Review for “deep, genuine musicianship and an outstanding technique” at his Carnegie Hall debut recital. He has given recitals all over Europe and the United States, as well as in China, Ecuador, Chile, and South Africa. His performance was broadcast on WQXR in the McGraw Hill Young Artists Showcase, and his debut CD album Tribute to Haydn was released by Labor Records. He is the first prize winner of international piano competitions Luigia Stramesi and Citta’ di Minerbio in Italy, Les Rencontres des Jeunes Pianistes in Belgium, Zlatko Grgosevic in Croatia, and New York Concert Artists’ Carnegie Recital Debut Audition.
Mr. Bracic performed with the Zagreb Soloists, the Zagreb Youth Chamber Orchestra (ZOKOR), the Croatian Radio-Television Orchestra, and the University City Orchestra in St. Louis. He has collaborated with conductors such as Eduard Zilberkant, Leon Burke, Hikaru Ebihara, Zlatan Srzic, and Vladimir Kranjcevic. A regular performer at festivals and conferences, Mr. Bracic has played at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Salzburg Summer Academy, the European Piano Teachers’ Association in Norway and Hungary, the international festival Music, Youth, Hope in Russia, Beijing International Music Festival & Academy, Music Academy of the West, and other festivals. He was invited as faculty and artist in residence to the Rushmore Music Festival in South Dakota, and the Karwendel Music Festival in Germany.
Mr. Bracic gave solo recitals at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Steinway Hall, Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Auditorium, Austrian Cultural Forum, Polish Consulate, Bulgarian Consulate, and Bohemian National Hall in New York, as well as Rhinebeck Chamber Music Society, and the EUNIC series at the Austrian Embassy in Washington, DC. As a member of chamber music ensembles, he performed at Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, New York Historical Society, and Merkin Hall. As a member of the Exponential Ensemble, he gave a series of chamber music concerts with members of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra. He performed many times at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the Ethel Foundation series, and at the 92nd Street Y in the Himan Brown Program. In his concert programs, he frequently includes works by Croatian composers.
Mr. Bracic has started a series of conversation-recitals under the title The Art of Listening in order to promote the understanding and appreciation of classical music. He has given over a hundred such recitals and was praised by the audience for his “contagious enthusiasm” and “unique ability to elucidate imagery both as a performer and teacher.” He has given fundraising concerts for several charities including American Cancer Society, the International Rescue Committee, Free the Slaves, Salus Care, and the Chad Foundation for Athletes and Artists. He has also given a series of concerts at hospitals and nursing homes in Austria as a member of the humanitarian organization Yehudi Menuhin’s Live Music Now. He is currently a lecturer at 92nd Street Y and an adjunct piano lecturer at Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, City University of New York.
Mr. Bracic was born in Zagreb, Croatia, where he took piano lessons with Vinka Brajer at the Ivan Zajc Music School, and Jelica Kuzmin at the Pavao Markovac Music School. He earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees at the University of Mozarteum Salzburg, in the class of Karl-Heinz Kämmerling. He received another Master’s degree and a Professional Studies Diploma under full scholarship at Mannes College, The New School for Music in New York as a student of Pavlina Dokovska. He was awarded the Graduate Center Fellowship and received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the City University of New York studying with Ursula Oppens, Richard Goode, and Norman Carey. His approach to music was also influenced by the teaching of Alexander Mullenbach, Jerome Lowenthal, Thomas Riebl, Irena Grafenauer, Cordelia Höfer-Teutsch, Mark Shapiro, Marc Ponthus, Carl Schachter, Raymond Erickson, and members of the Hagen Quartet, the Orion Quartet, and the Takacs Quartet.
