Yefim Bronfman
Piano
Internationally recognized as one of today’s most acclaimed and admired pianists, Yefim Bronfman stands among a handful of artists regularly sought by festivals, orchestras, conductors, and recital series.
Following summer festival appearances in Vail, Tanglewood, and Aspen, Bronfman’s 2025–26 season began with an extensive tour of China, Japan, and South Korea. In Europe, Bronfman can be heard this season with orchestras in London, Kristiansand, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Dresden, and on tour with the Israel Philharmonic. A special trio project with Anne-Sophie Mutter and Pablo Ferrández continued with performances in Switzerland, Spain, Germany, and France last fall. With orchestras in North America, he returns to New York Philharmonic, Rochester Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra (in Miami), Pittsburgh Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, and Montreal Symphony. In recital, Bronfman can be heard in Prague, Milan, Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, Charlottesville, and Toronto.
Bronfman has been nominated for six Grammy Awards, winning in 1997 with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic for their recording of the three Bartók piano concertos. His prolific catalog includes works for two pianos by Rachmaninoff and Brahms with Emanuel Ax, the complete Prokofiev concertos with the Israel Philharmonic, and the soundtrack to Disney’s Fantasia 2000.
Born in Tashkent in the Soviet Union, Yefim Bronfman immigrated to Israel with his family in 1973, where 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 School of Music, and Curtis Institute of Music, with Rudolf Firkusny, Leon Fleisher, and Rudolf Serkin. A recipient of the Avery Fisher Prize, in 2010 Bronfman was further honored as the recipient of the Jean Gimbel Lane prize in piano performance from Northwestern University and in 2015 with an honorary doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in January 1981.