Professor Alexander Braginsky
Guest artist
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 11 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.
While still a student at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory Braginsky started touring the Soviet Union as a soloist and a chamber musician. He was also writing articles and reviews for “Soviet Music”, the leading USSR music magazine. Upon graduation, he started teaching piano performance at the Moscow Pedagogy Institute.
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 and the United States.
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 in England, National Public Radio, RTB-BRT in Belgium, WFMT, WQXR and other leading radio stations throughout the world. Braginsky was artist-in-residence and Music Fellow in Churchill College, Cambridge in 1981 and 1986.
In recognition of their contribution the College has established in 2022 the Tanya Remenikova - Alexander Braginsky Scholarship Foundation to support music performance studies in Cambridge. Braginsky is the Artistic Director of the Musicians in Debut International (MIDI) as well as the Founding President and the Artistic Director of the International Piano-eCompetition which he established in 2000. His students of all ages continue to be winners of regional, national and international competitions in this country and abroad. Braginsky is the Artistic Director of the Musicians in Debut International (MIDI) as well as the Founding President and the Artistic Director of the International Piano-eCompetition which he established in 2000. His students of all ages continue to be winners of regional, national and international competitions in this country and abroad. Braginsky is the Artistic Director of the Musicians in Debut International (MIDI) as well as the Founding President and the Artistic Director of the International Piano-eCompetition which he established in 2000. His students of all ages continue to be winners of regional, national and international competitions in this country and abroad.