Don Wright Faculty of Music mourns the loss of Damjana Bratuž
It is with sadness and deep regret that we inform our community of Professor Emerita Damjana Bratuž's passing on May 21 after a brief illness. A brilliant pianist and pedagogue, earlier studies were with Nadia Boulanger and Alfred Cortot – and she subsequently became the first woman to receive a doctorate from Indiana University, under the tutelage of Gyorgy Sebök.
Western Music alumnus Bruce Vogt (Professor Emeritus of piano at the University of Victoria) was kind enough to provide the following obituary and touching tribute to Professor Bratuž:
BRATUZ, Damjana, at age 97, following a brief illness, passed away peacefully in the company of her students and close friends at University Hospital in London Ontario after a long and rich life. Pre-deceased by her parents Marija and Rudolf, and her sister Bogdana (Petje) – who was a celebrated actress in Italy and Slovenia – and survived by her nephew Zvonko Petje. Damjana was born on what is now the Slovenian side of the border town Gorizia. She grew up during the prelude to – and then the horror of – World War II. An Uncle was murdered by the fascists for conducting Slovenian carols in small villages. Her father was made a prisoner of war – by both sides in turn. Much of her time in more recent years was spent organizing their papers and correspondence to be preserved in the Lojze Bratuz Cultural Center (Kulturni Center Lojze Bratuž), named after her grandfather, in NovA Gorizia. During and after the war, she studied piano with Dario de Rosa of the Trio di Trieste and attended the classes of Nadia Boulanger and Alfred Cortot. In 1958 she was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to study Radio and TV broadcasting for children. Later she studied with Gyorgy Sebok, becoming the first woman to receive a Doctorate from Indiana University.
It was our great fortune that she came to the University of Western Ontario as a professor of piano and of so much more. Her lectures on the composer Bartók were inspirational. But her intellectual interests were wide indeed. She lectured on Flaubert, Brancusi, on film and even on boxing! A brilliant polyglot, she always had astonishing things to teach us about music, about all the arts and cultural history – about life. She is survived by her students, who are her family and by the legacy of her inspiring teaching, which has remained a part of all who all had the good fortune to know her.
Please join us in offering our sincerest condolences to Professor Bratuž's many colleagues, friends, and students, and celebrating the rich legacy and profound impact of her teaching and artistry at Western and beyond.
Photo via Western News (Paul Mayne) article published in December 2005 (p. 7)
