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Born: July 7, 1951 - Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada
Died: September 17, 1987 - Bad Krozingen, West Germany |
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Bradford (Whitman) Tracey eas a Canadian performer on historical keyboard instruments, including harpsichord, virginal, clavichord, fortepiano, and organ. In his youth he was exposed to the traditional instruments of the Maritimes and learned the recorder. He took courses at Mount Allison University, played recorder and harpsichord under Wolfgang Bottenberg at Acadia University, and studied harpsichord and musicology with Greta Kraus at the University of Toronto. In 1971 with the aid of a Canada Council grant he studied harpsichord and clavichord with Rolf Junghanns and Hans-Martin Linde at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Switzerland. He studied fortepiano with Fritz Neumeyer in Germany, which gave him access to the Fritz Neumeyer's outstanding private collection of some 80 historical keyboard instruments in Bad Krozingen Castle near Freiburg. Tracey based his activities there and, with Rolf Junghanns - with whom he had formed a duo in 1973 at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis - inherited the collection in the mid-1980's on Fritz Neumeyer's death. In 1979 he began teaching at Berliner Hochschule der Künste, Music Conservatory Division, giving him access to that institution's highly regarded collection of historical keyboard instruments.
With Rolf Junghanns Bradford Tracey toured Canada and parts of the USA in 1977. They made their debut at Carnegie Recital Hall in a program of four-hand works played on the fortepiano. They made additional tours in Canada and the USA in 1979 and 1981. The duo also gave concerts in several cities in Austria, France, Germany, Holland, Spain, and Switzerland, many broadcast on radio. Tracey toured eastern Canada and the USA with Nigel Rogers in November 1978, appeared as soloist in festivals in England, toured Japan as soloist with Collegium Aureum in 1980, performed with the Berliner Philharmoniker in 1982, and appeared at the Nova Scotia Festival of Music in 1984. He also appeared in Paris, London, and Madrid. In 1986 he organized the Friedenau Chamber Concerts series in Berlin, which gave some 60 concerts in its first season.
Bradford Tracey's recordings are acclaimed for their value as aural documents of some of the most important historical keyboard instruments in the world and for his capacity for expression in many historical styles. |
