Alexander Braginsky 

Alexander Braginsky

USA

Alexander Braginsky was born and educated in Moscow. He received his first piano lessons from his mother, a well-known concert pianist. At the age of six he began study with Alexander Goldenweiser, a close friend of Leo Tolstoy and a classmate of Rachmaninov and Scriabin. It was through Goldenweiser, with whom he spent 12 years as his youngest student, that Braginsky came into contact with the great 19th-century Romantic tradition. After Goldenweiser death, he continued to study with Theodore Gutman, another illustrious representative of the “Golden Age” of Russian piano school.

Braginsky’s repertoire extends from Baroque to avant-garde. He performed over twenty world premieres, most of which were works commissioned and written for him, including music by Stephen Paulus, Libby Larsen and Paul Fetler’s Piano Concerto, commissioned by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Braginsky performed extensively in the former USSR, Israel, England, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Taiwan, the People’s Republic of China, Spain, France, Cuba and the United States. He appeared on stage in collaboration with Yefim Bronfman, Oleg Kagan and other renowned artists. The London Times characterized Braginsky’s playing as “splendid” and the Chicago Sun-Times called him “… a pianist with a fine, commanding sound that he can also use with great delicacy and expression.”

Braginsky has recorded for DDF, Sound StarTone and d’Note labels. He has appeared repeatedly on BBC, National Public Radio, RTB-BRT and other radio stations throughout the world.

Braginsky and his wife, cellist Tanya Remenikova were the first artists-in-residence appointed by Churchill College, Cambridge, in 1981.He has given numerous masterclasses in Europe, Asia and North America. He taught and performed at the International Music Summer Course in Vienna, Austria since 1995. While in Vienna in 2003, Braginsky was awarded the Josef Dichler Gold Medal for outstanding achievements.

Currently Braginsky teaches at the University of Minnesota School of Music where he is Professor of Piano. He is also the Director of the International Piano Institute at Hamline University in Saint Paul. Many of his students have won national and international competitions.

Braginsky frequently judges International and National Piano Competitions. He is the Artistic Director of the Musicians in Debut International (MIDI) as well as the Founding President and the Artistic Director of the Minnesota International Piano-e-Competition.