Yefim Bronfman was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 1958. In 1973 he emigrated with his family to Israel, where he continued his piano training with Arie Vardi at the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv. Shortly thereafter he moved to the United States, where he honed his skills with Rudolf Firkušný, Leon Fleisher, and Rudolf Serkin. His debut with the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta in 1978 launched his international career, which has included appearances with the leading orchestras and conductors. In the 2010-11 season, for example, he has performed with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the Berlin Staatskapelle, as well as with the Israel, New York, and Los Angeles Philharmonics. From the start of his career Bronfman has been keenly involved with chamber music, partnering with violinists Isaac Stern, Pinchas Zukerman, and Joshua Bell; cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Lynn Harrell; and the Emerson, Cleveland, and Juilliard Quartets. He also regularly performs recitals in the major musical capitals and at such festivals as Aspen, Ravi-nia, Salzburg, and Tanglewood. In 2007-08 he was the “Perspectives Artist” at Carnegie Hall, in 2008-09 he had an “on location” residency with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and in the summer of 2009 he appeared as “artiste étoile” at LUCERNE FESTIVAL. Yefim Bronfman’s repertoire encompasses the major concertos from Mozart to Prokofiev as well as the virtuoso solo literature and chamber music from three centuries. He is also committed to performing contemporary works; for example, in 2007 he gave the world premiere of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Piano Concerto. Bronfman, who has been an American citizen since 1989 and who won the Avery Fisher Prize in 1991, commands a large discography, which includes his Grammy-winning recording of the three Bartók concertos.
LUCERNE FESTIVAL (IMF) debut on 25 August 1999 in the Second Piano Concerto by Béla Bartók with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Zubin Mehta.
August 2011