Pianist Yefim Bronfman Joins Utah Symphony to Perform Brahms This Weekend

The Utah Symphony and Music Director Thierry Fischer are joined by renowned piano soloist Yefim Bronfman at Abravanel Hall today and tomorrow, September 19 and 20 at 8 PM. Mr. Bronfman, a regular soloist with orchestras all around the world, will play Johannes Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2.

Brahms called the piece "a tiny little piano concerto with a wisp of a scherzo" in a letter to friend, but it is considered one of the most expansive and ambitious concertos. The score poses interpretive hurdles to any pianist who attempts it. Mr. Bronfman is well suited for the task because, as The Chicago Tribune said, Mr. Bronfman's playing demonstrates "marvel of digital dexterity, warmly romantic sentiment, and jaw-dropping bravura."

Also on the evening's program is Symphonies of Wind Instruments, Igor Stravinsky's follow-up to The Firebird and The Rite of Spring, and Arnold Schoenberg's Transfigured Night, a five movement work based upon a narrative poem about love and forgiveness.

This performance will mark Mr. Bronfman's fifth appearance with Utah Symphony. He previously performed Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 in February 2001, Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2 in April 1996, Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 1 and Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 in January 1991, and Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 in September 1998.

RELATED EVENTS

Yefim Bronfman plays Brahms with Utah Symphony and Music Director Thierry Fischer at the Val A. Browning Center in Ogden, Utah, on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2014 at 7:30 p.m.

Music Director Thierry Fischer and Vice President of Artistic Planning Toby Tolokan will present a free pre-concert chat each night, one hour prior to the start of the performance on the orchestra level of Abravanel Hall.

TICKET INFORMATION

Single tickets for the performance start at $18 and can be purchased by phone at (801) 355-2787, in person at the Abravanel Hall ticket office (123 W. South Temple) or online by visiting www.utahsymphony.org. Tickets for patrons ages 30 or younger are available for $10 each through the USUO Upbeat program. Season subscribers can purchase discounted tickets by contacting (801) 533-6683. Those desiring group discounts should call (801) 869-9046. All ticket prices are subject to change and availability, and will increase $5 when purchased on the day of the performance.

GUEST ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Yefim Bronfman

Bronfman is widely regarded as one of the most talented virtuoso pianists 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.

After a break of many years, he will return this season to Japan for recitals and orchestral concerts with London's Philharmonia Orchestra and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and to Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei, Beijing, Sydney and Melbourne. In the spring he will join Anne-Sophie Mutter and Lynn Harrell for their first US tour together.

Widely praised for his solo, chamber and orchestral recordings, he was nominated for a GRAMMY® Award in 2009 for his Deutsche Grammophon recording of Esa-Pekka Salonen's piano concerto with

Salonen conducting; with Salonen he also won a GRAMMY® Award in 1997 for his recording of the three Bartók Piano Concerti with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His performance of Beethoven's Fifth Piano concerto with Andris Nelsons and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra from the 2011 Lucerne Festival is

now available on DVD and his performance of Rachmaninoff's third concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle was released on DVD, by the EuroArts label. His most recent CD releases are the 2014 GRAMMY® nominated Magnus Lindberg's Piano Concerto No. 2 commissioned for him and performed by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Alan Gilbert on the Da Capo label; Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 with Mariss Jansons and the Bayerischer Rundfunk; and recordings of all the

Beethoven piano concerti as well as the Triple Concerto together with violinist Gil Shaham, cellist Truls Mørk, and the Tönhalle Orchestra Zürich under David Zinman for the Arte Nova/BMG label.

Born in Tashkent in the Soviet Union on April 10, 1958, 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 and the Curtis Institute, and with Rudolf Firkusny, Leon Fleisher and Rudolf Serkin.

Yefim Bronfman became an American citizen in July 1989.