The British-Vietnamese pianist Tra Nguyen has been hailed as an artist whose readings are "deeply thoughtful" and who holds the capacity to captivate the audience with her "impressive combination of power and poetry". Her recent orchestral recording debut of romantic Swiss - German composer Joachim Raff's Suite for Piano and Orchestra has been received with superlative reviews and was chosen as Album of the Week by The Independent, March 2010.

Tra has performed live for Hong Kong Radio Four and at the Shostakovich Centenary Festival at London"s Queen Elizabeth Hall. Her 2008 concerto debut in Japan at the Tokyo City Opera Concert Hall was met with great enthusiasm from the sold-out audience. Tra premiered works of Leo Ornstein at the Kennedy Center (Millenium Stage) and her concerto performances with leading Vietnamese orchestras and conductors are frequently broadcast on Vietnam national television.

Tra's imaginative programming balances core repertoire and lesser-known music. Her interests in exploring neglected music have also led her to work with Sterling Records to produce premiere recordings of music for piano and orchestra by Joachim Raff, in collaboration with distinguished conductors like Roland Kluttig and Andrea Quinn. Her chamber music CDs with clarinettist Sabine Grofmeier released on ClassicClips and ARS Produktion were highly praised by the press. In 2012, Tra"s first volumes of Joachim Raff's piano music will be released on Naxos label.

Tra made her first solo performance at the Hanoi Grand Opera House when she was ten and shortly thereafter gave her first concerto performance with the Hanoi Conservatoire Orchestra, performing the Mozart concerto KV 488. In 1987, chosen by representatives from the Moscow Conservatoire, Tra furthered her studies at the Moscow Gnessin Music College and later at the Moscow Conservatoire with professor Lev Naumov. She then moved to London in 1997 for post-graduate studies with professor Christopher Elton at the Royal Academy of Music where she received the Academy's highest award for her final recital. Tra also received coaching and musical inspiration from distinguished musicians including Arnaldo Cohen, Hamish Milne and Andrew Zolinsky.

Tra was chosen as one of "Ten most influential Youths of Vietnam" in 2002. She now lives in London, spending her free time painting and writing short stories and poems.