Obituary of Damjana Bratuz

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 Regional Archives of Nova Gorica. 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 while 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 learn from her. A committal service will be held on Friday, June 13th at 11am at St. Peter’s Cemetery, 806 Victoria St, London, ON N5Y 4E1.