First-year piano student,
Kansas State
Teachers College
Emporia, Kansas

… Who's this Bratuz chick anyway?

”From the Introduction of Keynote Speaker
Damjana Bratuž at the International
Conference ‘Representing Gender in the
Performing Arts,’ University of Groningen
(Holland) November 2009

Research/Creation in
Fine Arts Adjudication
Committee 2004

A superb scholar
One of the foremost interpreters of Bartók

President's Citation
University of Western Ontario,
1993

... a gift to impart extraordinary musical insights to an entire generation of young Canadian pianists ...

Prof. Walter Robert ,
Indiana University

A born teacher…one of the few…

János Starker

… An outstanding pedagogue, musician, and pianist.

György Sebök

… An excellent pianist and an inspired performer. Her pedagogical talent is exceptional and is supported both by her musical qualities and her knowledge and experience on the human plane. Her endearing personality enables her to create an immediate contact with people.

Franco Gulli

…A splendid pianist and dedicated scholar. A first class virtuoso and a deep musician, who can be compared very favourably with many of the best performers. I have been extremely impressed by the originality and creativity of her lectures.

Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi

… Her great enthusiasm, extensive knowledge and fine artistry have brought out such a high quality of teaching which one can rarely find anywhere in the world. Her students responded with gratitude and hard work.

Alfred Cortot

… [Gordon Tracy:] When Cortot, the old master, heard Damjana Bratuz, still a young artist, play Mozart (for him, always the moment of truth for any pianist), he praised her musicianship, intelligence, and sensitivity, and was prophetic of things to come when he commended her for the essays she had written.

Keith MacMillan

… A dedicated scholar and excellent recitalist, excellent chamber music coach, multilingual and widely respected in the music-teaching profession.

D. Carlton Williams
(President, UWO)

… A musician of rare sensitivity and intelligence, an outstanding performer. I have followed her career with pride and pleasure.

B. Kymlicka

… There cannot be very many other lecturers who are better teachers. And by "better teachers" I do not mean merely "more popular" (though Professor Bratu is that); I mean one who combines erudition with a captivating and imaginative style. Moreover, her lectures are placed within a general context of European history and literature. It is this extra dimension, fortified by wide and deep awareness of culture, that I think may be unparalleled. Surprisingly enough, Professor Bratuz manages to wear this mantle of learning with ease. In the world of music lovers and peripheral musicians she is admired.

Arthur Rowe

… The insights, perceptions and musical solutions/suggestions which she has to offer, are indeed a rarity on the Canadian musical scene. She has done extensive traveling to many areas of the country lecturing, adjudicating young and advanced musicians, and publishing articles, all of which are an attempt to foster a musical and cultural environment in Canada which is more knowledgeable, perceptive and supportive of its artists and artistic institutions.

Bruce Vogt

… Dr. Bratuz offers to her students a rich supply of pianistic insights. Yet more important and unique is the way in which she presents the study of the piano and its repertoire not as a narrow field of technical prowess for competition, but as part of an important world of musical and artistic culture demanding great intellectual liveliness and curiosity. Each of her students came to believe that it mattered profoundly that we should strive for the widest possible musical culture and the greatest possible intellectual growth. Consequently, the majority of us found our ambitions and horizons to be greatly expanded. … She has done a great deal of good for her adopted country.

John Hansen

… She is a complete master of her art. Her command of music, pianism and pedagogy are unique in this country and she is without parallel as a teacher. I would summarize her talent as the possession of a penetrating insight into both the psychology of music and of the individual performer.

Eve Harwood

… As a teacher myself, I admired her determination to draw from the resources of each student as well as the mixture of intense concentration and joy she exhibited in re-creating each composition with the performers. … Her vocabulary and approaches were mostly new to us, always thought-provoking…

David Nuttall
(Brass Cats)

… We each learned more about music in that hour than we had with any other teacher or coach with whom we had ever worked or studied before. Dr. Bratuz left us in a very real sense of awe. In that short time, our understanding of all music, as well as of the piece we worked on, was expanded significantly. None of us shall ever forget it. …It was completely irrelevant that we were not pianists; each of us is now a better musician because of our experience with her. …We intend to exploit Dr. Bratuz' seemingly near-infinite wisdom at every opportunity… to benefit from the musicality and knowledge so rarely found that Dr. Bratuz has and is so gifted at giving.

A.H., Director
R.M., Fine and Performing
Arts Co-ordinator
Part-Time and
Continuing Education
U.W.O.

… There was a record number of participants, in itself an indication of her extraordinary popularity as a teacher.
She has a wonderful way of analyzing a piece of music to show all the elements that have led to its creation. Damjana stands out among the best of all the hundreds of instructors we have hired year after year in our Program.
… her ability to communicate the essence and subtleties of music have earned her the respect and support of the London community.

Robert Cooper
(Executive Producer, CBC)

…. Bob also credits Dr. Damjana Bratuz with influencing his philosophy. He studied piano with her and wasn’t well prepared for a lesson one day. After listening to his excuses, she replied, “ Bob, I have two words for you. First, never begin a sentence with I. And second, there are no excuses, there are choices.” (From Ensemble, Winter 2007)

Rodica Ieta

I am grateful to Professor Damjana Bratuz, whose intelligence, taste, generosity, and faith in art have brought me much joy and a sense of connection.
(From the Acknowledgments page in her Dissertation "Between Hypertext and Experience: James Joyce and the Potentiality of Language," University of Western Ontario, April 2003.)