El Paso Pianist, Teacher And Chopin Festival Founder Dies

An El Paso pianist, teacher, vocal coach/chorus director and founder of the Chopin festival has passed away at the age of 92.

Dr. Lucy Scarbrough taught at El Paso Community College for almost 50 years and continued to teach up until this Spring, stopping then only because of the disruption in the normal schedule caused by the COVID 19 pandemic. Dr. Scarbrough was an accomplished pianist and was also the founder of the Chopin Festival. A festival which,  her daughter, Ginger Scarbrough, told KVIA has entertained around 37,000 people up to this point.

Dr. Scarbrough started that festival in order to bring attention and appreciation to the works of Frederic Chopin which led to her getting some attention of her own. She was recognized by the Polish government for her efforts and was awarded a Decoration of Honor Meritorious for Polish Culture. (Read more about Chopin here.)

The official announcement posted on Facebook by the El Paso Community College  read as follows:

Our icon joined the Angel's yesterday morning. We wouldn't be here if it weren't for this woman and the grassroots work she did for the department. She was one of a kind. Always determined. She was composing and playing right until the end. LONG LIVE LUCY SCARBROUGH!

A story posted by our news partner, KVIA, also quoted a post from EPCC which added that Dr. Scarbrough was "an outstanding faculty member and renowned musician" who had made "an important impact on our college, students and community."

Dr. Scarbrough taught thousands and thousands of students from in and around El Paso.