Yefim Bronfman
Yefim Bronfman was born in Tashkent, in the Soviet Union, in 1958 and in 1973 moved with his family to Israel, where he studied with Arie Vardi. His debut with Zubin Mehta and the Montreal Symphony was followed by his New York Philharmonic debut in 1978, his Washington recital debut at the Kennedy Center in 1981, and his New York recital debut in 1982. He was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize in 1991. A frequent guest with the San Francisco Symphony, Mr. Bronfman made his debut here in 1981 and appeared with the SFS most recently in November 2010.
Last season, Mr. Bronfman appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, and Toronto Symphony, in a residency with the Cleveland Orchestra, and on a winter recital tour culminating at Carnegie Hall. In Europe, he performed in recital and as soloist with the Philharmonia Orchestra and London Symphony Orchestra, and on tour with the Bavarian Radio Symphony. This season’s highlights include concerts with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchestra of Zürich, and the Berlin and Vienna philharmonics, as well as a tour with Ensemble Wien-Berlin. Mr. Bronfman begins a year-long residency with the Bavarian Radio Symphony and Mariss Jansons, returns to Salzburg’s Easter Festival with the Dresden Staatskapelle, and performs concerts in Spain and Germany. In North America, he performs with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in one of its infrequent visits to Carnegie Hall, and returns to the New York, Chicago, Dallas, Cincinnati, Saint Louis, and Montreal orchestras. Mr. Bronfman performs solo recitals in Los Angeles, Seattle, Denver, Atlanta, Paris, Berlin, and Lisbon, and he joins mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená for a winter tour that includes Carnegie Hall.
Over the past several seasons, Yefim Bronfman has served as an On Location artist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and a Perspectives artist at Carnegie Hall; he has collaborated with the Emerson, Guarneri, and Juilliard string quartets, as well as with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; and participated in the Israel Philharmonic’s 70th birthday celebrations. Mr. Bronfman has an extensive discography and in 1997 won a Grammy® award for the three Bartók piano concertos with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His recording of Salonen’s Piano Concerto (written for him) with the composer conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic was nominated for a 2010 Grammy. Most recently, his 2011 Lucerne Festival performance of Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto with Andris Nelsons and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra was released on DVD. In 2010, Mr. Bronfman received the Jean Gimbel Lane prize in piano performance from Northwestern University.
(November 2012)