Yefim Bronfman Set for Chamber Music Concert with NY Philharmonic Musicians, 3/30

Yefim Bronfman, the New York Philharmonic's 2013-14 Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence, will be spotlighted in a chamber music concert co-presented with 92nd Street Y. Mr. Bronfman will be joined by Philharmonic Concertmaster Glenn Dicterow; Principal Clarinet Stephen Williamson; Associate Principal, Second Violin Group, Lisa Kim; Associate Principal Viola Rebecca Young; and cellist Maria Kitsopoulos for the program, featuring Schubert's Sonatina in A minor; Bartók's Contrasts for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano; and Brahms's Piano Quintet, Sunday, March 30, 2014, at 3:00 p.m. at 92nd Street Y.

During his residency, Mr. Bronfman has performed on CONTACT!, the Philharmonic's new-music series, on a program also co-presented with the 92nd Street Y and featuring Philharmonic musicians; Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 on the 2013-14 season subscription-opening program, led by Music Director Alan Gilbert; and a reprise of his Grammy-nominated performance of Magnus Lindberg's Piano Concerto No. 2 with Alan Gilbert and the Orchestra in New York and on the ASIA/WINTER 2014 tour. He will return as the featured soloist in The Beethoven Piano Concertos: A Philharmonic Festival, led by Alan Gilbert, June 11-28, 2014.

As the 2013-14 Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence at the New York Philharmonic, Yefim Bronfman plays concertos by composers ranging from Tchaikovsky to Magnus Lindberg; appears in chamber concerts featuring works by Marc-André Dalbavie, Marc Neikrug, Schubert, Bartók, and others; travels on the ASIA / WINTER 2014 tour, performing Magnus Lindberg's Piano Concerto No. 2; and concludes the season with The Beethoven Piano Concertos: A Philharmonic Festival. Other highlights of Mr. Bronfman's 2013-14 season include a tour with Pinchas Zukerman to Ottawa, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, Berkeley, and Vancouver; performing Beethoven with conductor Zubin Mehta at the Berlin Philharmonic's new spring residency in Baden-Baden; returns to the orchestras of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Boston, as well as Paris, Munich, Berlin, and Amsterdam; and a tour of Australia with Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra as part of its worldwide centenary celebrations. Mr. Bronfman was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2009 for his recording of Esa-Pekka Salonen's Piano Concerto, with Mr. Salonen conducting (released on Deutsche Grammophon), having received a Grammy in 1997 for his recording of the three Bartók piano concertos with Mr. Salonen and 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. His most recent CD release is Lindberg's Piano Concerto No. 2, commissioned for him and performed by the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Alan Gilbert, on the Dacapo label. Born in Tashkent, in the Soviet Union, in 1958, Yefim Bronfman immigrated to Israel with his family in 1973. There he studied with pianist Arie Vardi, head of the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University. He later studied in the United States, at The Juilliard School, Marlboro, and The Curtis Institute of Music, and with Rudolf Firkusny, Leon Fleisher, and Rudolf Serkin. He became an American citizen in July 1989. Yefim Bronfman last appeared in a concert at 92nd Street Y in March 2009 performing Schubert's Trout Quintet with the Zukerman ChamberPlayers. He last appeared with the Philharmonic in January 2014 and on the ASIA / WINTER 2014 tour performing Magnus Lindberg's Piano Concerto No. 2, led by Alan Gilbert.

Glenn Dicterow made his solo debut at the age of 11 in Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His honors include the Young Musicians Foundation Award, Coleman Competition Award, Julia Klumpke Award, and Bronze Medal in the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1970. Since joining the New York Philharmonic in 1980 as Concertmaster, The Charles E. Culpeper Chair, he has made annual solo appearances with the Orchestra. Mr. Dicterow also frequently appears as soloist with orchestras around the world, and he performed Bernstein's Serenade with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra in Isaac Stern at Eighty: A Birthday Celebration at Carnegie Hall. Mr. Dicterow is featured in the violin solos in Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben and Also sprach Zarathustra with Zubin Mehta for CBS Records. He has recorded works by Wieniawski with Zubin Mehta and the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Lee Holdridge's Violin Concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the composer; and Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1 with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Maxim Shostakovich. His most recent CD is a recital on Cala Records' New York Legends series. Glenn Dicterow is on the faculty of The Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music, as well as a faculty artist at the Music Academy of the West, following three years of participation in Music Academy Summer Festivals. In the fall of 2013, he became the first to hold the Robert Mann Chair in Strings and Chamber Music at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music. He will join the Philharmonic's Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence Yefim Bronfman and Principal Cello Carter Brey in Beethoven's Triple Concerto, conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert, June 24-28, 2014, as he concludes his 34-year tenure as the Orchestra's Concertmaster.

Stephen Williamson joined the New York Philharmonic as Principal Clarinet, The Edna and W. Van Alan Clark Chair, in July 2013. He previously served as principal clarinet of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO, 2011-13) and The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (2003-11), and was a frequent guest principal clarinetist with the Saito Kinen Festival Orchestra. An avid soloist and chamber musician, Mr. Williamson has performed extensively in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, and he has served on the faculties of Columbia University, Mannes College of Music, and Pacific Music Festival. He has recorded for the Sony Classics, Telarc, CRI, BMG, Naxos, and Decca labels and can be heard on numerous film soundtracks, including John Williams' Oscar-nominated score to Steven Spielberg's Lincoln. Mr. Williamson graduated from the Eastman School of Music and received his master's degree from The Juilliard School. As a Fulbright Scholar, he furthered his studies at Berlin's Hochschule der Künste. Stephen Williamson's honors include grand prize of the 1994 Boosey & Hawkes/Buffet Crampon First Annual North American Clarinet Competition and awards from the Concert Artists Guild Competition and Coleman International Chamber Music Competition.

Lisa Kim joined the Philharmonic in 1994 and was named Associate Principal, Second Violin Group, In Memory of Laura Mitchell, in 2003. She teaches in South Korea and the United States, and has performed with the Seoul National Philharmonic Orchestra and the SooWon, North Carolina, Winston-Salem, and Durham symphony orchestras. She has performed chamber music with the Philharmonic Ensembles series, Brooklyn's Bargemusic, Hofstra Chamber Ensemble series, and Lyric Chamber Music Society of New York; with Lynn Harrell, Ani Kavafian, Yo-Yo Ma, Garrick Ohlsson, and the late Lukas Foss; in Europe, under the International Music Program; and at the Jordan's Jurash Festival at the invitation of King Hussein. Lisa Kim began violin studies at age seven, attended the North Carolina School of the Arts, and earned bachelor's and master's degrees from The Juilliard School. She has won prizes in the Arts Recognition and Talent Search, Bryan Young Artists String Competition, Winston-Salem Young Talent Search, and Durham Symphony Young Artists Competition. She joined the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music in 1999. Violist Rebecca Young joined the Philharmonic in 1986 as its youngest member, and in 1991 was named the Orchestra's Associate Principal Viola. After serving as principal of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1992-93, she resumed her Philharmonic Associate Principal position in 1994. She can currently be seen leading the viola section of the All-Star Orchestra, a popular televised educational series about classical music. She has performed chamber music with groups such as the Boston Chamber Music Society, Boston Symphony Chamber Players, New York Philharmonic Ensembles, and The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and has recorded Schubert's Trout Quintet with Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, Pamela Frank, and Edgar Meyer (on Sony Classical). In 1999 Ms. Young performed the World Premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina's Two Paths, a work commissioned by the Philharmonic and underwritten by then Music Director Kurt Masur's wife, Tomoko, for Ms. Young and Philharmonic Principal Viola Cynthia Phelps. The two reprised the work with the Philharmonic on several of the Orchestra's tours and in New York, including in her most recent Philharmonic solo appearances in April 2011. Ms. Young is a graduate of The Juilliard School, and hosts the Philharmonic's popular Very Young Peoples Concerts. Cellist Maria Kitsopoulos joined the Philharmonic in 1996. Her solo engagements have included the Continuum ensemble at Alice Tully Hall; the Phoenix Symphony, Westfield Symphony, Graz, and Athens State orchestras; and recitals. She performs contemporary music with groups such as Music Mobile and the Guild of Composers, and she has toured Europe with Ensemble Intercontemporain. She is a member of the quartet CELLO, which performs music it has commissioned throughout the United States, and has appeared at the Kennedy Center,
Lincoln Center, and Merkin Concert Hall. She received bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees from The Juilliard School; upon graduation she was awarded the Peter Mennin Prize for Outstanding Leadership, and later served on the school's faculty. A finalist in the first Emanuel Feuermann Cello Competition and a prizewinner in the National Society of Arts and Letters Cello Competition, she received fellowships from the Aspen and Tanglewood music festivals. She can be heard on recordings on the Musical Heritage Society, Angel, DG, Columbia, and other labels. Franz Schubert's (1797-1828) Sonatina in A minor is one of three works he wrote for violin and piano in 1816. Created when the composer was just 19, these works represent a tip of the hat to Mozart, but nevertheless contain many characteristics that would ultimately become Schubertian hallmarks, including ecstatic harmonies and abrupt stops. While the pieces were likely called "sonatas" when written, Diabelli (Schubert's Viennese publisher) listed them as "sonatinas" when they were finally published after the composer's death in 1828, a moniker that has remained for almost two centuries. Béla Bartók (1881-1945) wrote his Contrasts for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano in response to a request by violinist Joseph Szigeti for a work he could play with clarinetist Benny Goodman, who officially commissioned the piece, which is based on Hungarian and Romanian dance melodies. Bartók initially delivered a six-minute, two-movement work (at Szigeti's request - it is believed he wanted something that would fit on each side of a 78), but then added a middle movement, expanding Contrasts to 17 minutes. Bartók, on the piano, joined Szigeti and Goodman at Carnegie Hall for the 1939 premiere of the completed version, and in a recording for Columbia Records. Johannes Brahms (1833-97) began composing his Piano Quintet in F minor in 1861, the year before he left his hometown of Hamburg for Vienna, Europe's musical capital. The work went through two transformations before reaching its final form in 1864: it began as a string quintet (with two cellos), which Brahms's friend and musical advisor Joseph Joachim thought "lacked charm," became a two-piano sonata (in which Clara Schumann felt there were too many ideas to be confined in a sonata), and finally, at the suggestion of the distinguished conductor Hermann Levi, it was re-cast as a piano quintet - a sort of fusion of the two previous attempts. Levi said of this final incarnation, "Anyone who did not know it in its earlier forms of string quintet and two-piano sonata would never believe that it was not originally thought out and designed for the present combination of instruments" and pronounced it "beautiful beyond words ... a masterpiece of chamber music."

Tickets for this concert start at $35. To purchase tickets, call (212) 875-5656, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday; 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday; and noon to 5:00 p.m. Sunday. [Ticket prices subject to change.]