Yefim Bronfman (Piano)
The Grammy Award-winning pianist Yefim Bronfman is widely regarded
as one of the most talented virtuosos performing today. His commanding technique
and exceptional lyrical gifts have won him consistent critical acclaim and
enthusiastic audiences worldwide, whether for his solo recitals, his prestigious
orchestral engagements, or his rapidly growing catalogue of recordings.
Yefim Bronfman is one of a handful of artists regularly sought by festivals, orchestras, conductors and recital series. At the centre of this season is a residency with the Staatskapelle Dresden which includes all the Beethoven concerti conducted by Christian Thielemann in Dresden and on tour in Europe. Yefim Bronfman will also be performing Bartók concerti with the London Symphony Orchestra and Valery Gergiev in Edinburgh, London, Vienna, Luxembourg and New York. Recital performances will capture audiences with cycles of the daunting complete Prokofiev sonatas in Berlin, New York’s Carnegie Hall and Cal Performances, Berkeley. As a regular guest, Yefim Bronfman will return to the Vienna, New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras and the Symphony Orchestras of Boston, Montreal, Toronto, San Francisco and Seattle.
As an “On Location” artist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for
the 2008-09 season, Yefim Bronfman will appear in two subscription concerts,
give a tour of the Far East with the orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen, and give a
chamber music concert with the orchestra’s musicians. Other highlights of Mr.
Bronfman’s 2008-09 season include a duo recital tour with Emanuel Ax, with
performances at Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, Disney Hall, and Carnegie Hall; and a
solo recital tour, traversing the U.S. and Europe and culminating in
performances at London’s Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and in St.
Petersburg. North American engagements include opening the 2008-09 season with
the San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas and with the New York
Philharmonic and Lorin Maazel, as well as performing with orchestras including
the Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Montreal, and Toronto Symphonies. In Europe, Mr.
Bronfman appears with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchestra,
Orchestre Nationale de France, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Berlin
Philharmonic at the Salzburg Festival, and the Philharmonia Orchestra in
London.
As a “Perspectives” artist at Carnegie Hall for the 2007-08
season, Bronfman partnered some of the world’s greatest orchestras and
conductors, including the Vienna Philharmonic with Valery Gergiev, the Royal
Concertgebouw Orchestra with Mariss Jansons, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
with James Levine, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Within the scope of the seven
concerts, he played repertoire ranging from solo piano and chamber to
orchestral, by composers from Mozart to Prokofiev and Berg to Dalbavie. Other
2007-08 season engagements included a tour of Japan, with the Kirov Orchestra
under Valery Gergiev, and a solo recital tour, beginning during the visit to
Japan and traversing the U.S., culminating in Carnegie Hall in December, before
continuing in Vienna, Paris, and Berlin. With orchestra, he appeared with the
Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco, New Jersey, and Toronto Symphony Orchestras and
concluded the season with the west coast premiere of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Piano
Concerto with Salonen conducting, recorded live for Deutsche Grammophon.
For the Opening Gala of the New York Philharmonic in September
2006, Mr. Bronfman partnered Emanuel Ax in Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos
under Lorin Maazel, with live national TV coverage. In winter 2007, he gave the
world premiere of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Piano Concerto, written for him and
commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, and participated in the Israel
Philharmonic’s 70th birthday celebrations, in concerts conducted by Zubin Mehta
and Valery Gergiev. Other highlights of Bronfman’s 2006-07 season include
appearances with the Boston, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Philadelphia, and National
Symphony Orchestras; Los Angeles and Vienna Philharmonics; Orchestre de Paris
and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; widely acclaimed performances at the Salzburg
Easter Festival with the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Sir Simon Rattle; and
a European tour with mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozena.
Yefim Bronfman appears regularly with such celebrated ensembles as
the Berlin Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, the
Dresden Staatskapelle, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, London’s Philharmonia,
the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris,
and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He has worked with an equally illustrious
group of conductors, including Daniel Barenboim, Herbert Blomstedt, Christoph
von Dohnбnyi, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Valery Gergiev, Mariss
Jansons, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Yuri
Temirkanov, Franz Welser-Mцst, and David Zinman. Summer engagements have
regularly taken him to the Aspen, Bad Kissingen, Blossom, Hollywood Bowl,
Lucerne, Mann Music Center, Mostly Mozart, Ravinia, Salzburg, Saratoga,
Tanglewood, and Verbier festivals.
Mr. Bronfman has also given numerous solo recitals in the leading
halls of North America, Europe, and the Far East, including acclaimed debuts at
Carnegie Hall in 1989 and Avery Fisher Hall in 1993. In 1991, he gave a series
of joint recitals with Isaac Stern in Russia, marking Bronfman’s first public
performances there since his emigration to Israel at age 15. That same year he
was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize, one of the highest honors given
to American instrumentalists.
Yefim Bronfman has won widespread praise for his solo, chamber,
and orchestral recordings. He won a Grammy award in 1997 for his recording of
the three Bartуk Piano Concertos with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles
Philharmonic. His discography also includes the complete Prokofiev piano
sonatas; all five of Prokofiev’s piano concertos, nominated for both Grammy and
Gramophone Awards; and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3. His most
recent releases are Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with Mariss Jansons and
the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks; a recital disc, Perspectives,
which complements Bronfman’s designation as a Carnegie Hall “Perspectives”
artist for the 2007-08 season; and recordings of all the Beethoven piano
concertos as well as the Triple Concerto, with violinist Gil Shaham, cellist
Truls Mшrk, and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zьrich under David Zinman for the Arte
Nova/BMG label.
Yefim Bronfman’s recordings with Isaac Stern include the Brahms
violin sonatas from their aforementioned Russian tour, a cycle of Mozart’s
sonatas for violin and piano, and Bartуk’s violin sonatas. Coinciding with the
release of the Fantasia 2000 soundtrack, Bronfman was featured on his own
Shostakovich album, performing the Piano Quintet alongside the two piano
concertos with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Esa-Pekka Salonen. In 2002, Sony
Classical released Bronfman’s two-piano recital (with Emanuel Ax) of works by
Rachmaninoff, which was followed in March 2005 by their second recording of
works by Brahms. Fall 2008 will see the release of Tchaikovsky’s Trio in A minor
with partners Gil Shaham and Truls Mшrk.
A devoted chamber music performer, Mr. Bronfman has collaborated
with the Emerson, Cleveland, Guarneri, and Juilliard String Quartets, as well as
the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has also played chamber music
with Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Lynn Harrell, Shlomo Mintz, Jean-Pierre Rampal,
Pinchas Zukerman, and many other artists.
Yefim Bronfman immigrated to Israel with his family in 1973, and
made his international debut two years later with Zubin Mehta and the Montreal
Symphony. He made his New York Philharmonic debut in May l978, his Washington
recital debut in March l98l at the Kennedy Center, and his New York recital
debut in January 1982 at the 92nd Street Y.
Mr. Bronfman was born in Tashkent in the Soviet Union, on April
10, 1958. In Israel, he studied with pianist Arie Vardi, head of the Rubin
Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University. In the United States, he studied at The
Juilliard School, Marlboro, and the Curtis Institute, and with Rudolf Firkusny,
Leon Fleisher, and Rudolf Serkin.
Yefim Bronfman official website
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