Javor Bračić
The Croatian pianist Javor Bračić was hailed by New York Concert Review for “deep, genuine musicianship and an outstanding technique” at his solo Carnegie Hall debut recital presented by New York Concert Artists. His CD album Tribute to Haydn was released by Labor Records, and his performance was broadcast on WQXR in the McGraw Hill Young Artists Showcase. He was the first prize winner of international piano competitions Luigia Stramesi and Citta’ di Minerbio in Italy, Les Rencontres des Jeunes Pianistes in Belgium, Zlatko Grgošević in Croatia, and New York Concert Artists’ Carnegie Recital Debut Audition.
Mr. Bračić was invited to perform at the Beijing International Music Festival & Academy, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Salzburg Summer Academy, Music Academy of the West, and other festivals in Russia, Norway and Hungary. 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. Bračić performed with the Zagreb Soloists, the Zagreb Youth Chamber Orchestra, and the Croatian Radio-Television Orchestra. He has collaborated with conductors such as Eduard Zilberkant, Hikaru Ebihara, Zlatan Srzić, and Vladimir Kranjčević.
Mr. Bračić gave solo recitals at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Steinway Hall, Austrian Cultural Forum, Polish Consulate in New York, Bohemian National Hall, 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. He performs regularly at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the Ethel Foundation series. In his programs, he frequently includes works by Croatian composers.
Mr. Bračić 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 thirty 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 also gave a series of concerts at hospitals and nursing homes in Austria as a member of the humanitarian organization Yehudi Menuhin's Live Music Now.
Mr. Bračić was born in Zagreb, Croatia, where he took lessons from 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 to pursue a Doctorate of Musical Arts at the City University of New York, in the class of 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.