House Concert September 2, 2017
Victoria Bragin - piano
Program
Beethoven, Sonata in E-flat ("The Hunt"), Op. 31, No.3
Selected Preludes by Debussy, including "Feux d'artifice"
Chopin, Sonata No. 3 in B Minor Opus 58
Biography
Philippine-born Victoria Bragin was co-winner at the 2002 Van Cliburn
International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs, a competition for
pianists 35 years or older who do not make a living from either piano
performance or teaching. It was the first piano competition she ever entered.
She was subsequently also a winner in other amateur piano competitions in Chicago,
Warsaw (Chopin competition in Poland), and Berlin.
With advanced degrees in both music and chemistry, Ms. Bragin spent most
of her professional career in chemical education. She was chemistry
professor at Pasadena City College in California before serving as
Program Director in the National Science Foundation's Division of
Undergraduate Education. Retiring shortly after the Cliburn competition,
she was appointed the first Music Artist-in-Residence at West Virginia's Huntington
Museum of Art, in which capacity she performed and produced concerts in
conjunction with Museum exhibits. She was recipient of the 2003 Herald-Dispatch
Citizen Award for the Arts for her music accomplishments and arts advocacy.
Her performances have been featured on NPR's Performance Today,
WFMT's Pianoforte Salon Series in Chicago, and on WV Pubcast's In Touch
with the Arts. She has given concerts all over the United States
including in Washington, DC, where she performed to a sold-out
audience at the Hirshhorn Museum. In addition to Berlin and Warsaw,
Ms. Bragin has been invited to perform in Nice (France), and Stuttgart
(Germany). When not playing the piano, Ms. Bragin can sometimes be seen
roaming the halls of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC with her
husband where they volunteer as docents.
More at her web site here.
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