Yefim Bronfman: winter 2010
Having already crisscrossed the U.S. and Europe earlier this season with concertos by Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, and Bartók, pianist Yefim Bronfman now caps a nationwide duo tour with violinist-violist Pinchas Zukerman, at Carnegie Hall (Nov 20) and Boston’s Symphony Hall (Nov 21). He follows this with three further concerto engagements, playing Brahms’s First with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony, Rachmaninoff’s Third in Rome, and then Salonen’s, which was written for him, on tour with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by the composer.
Longtime friends and collaborators, Bronfman and Zukerman perform a meaty program of violin sonatas by Mozart (K. 454 in B-flat major) and Beethoven (the “Spring”) and – with Zukerman switching instruments – Brahms’s autumnal Viola Sonata No. 2. Next the pianist tackles Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the San Francisco Symphony at its Davies Symphony Hall home (Nov 24, 26, & 27). He then heads to Rome for Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia directed by Diego Matheuz (Dec 3-7).
Reviewing one of Bronfman’s performances this spring, the Philadelphia Inquirer summed up the pianist’s characteristic combination of virtuosity and sensitivity by describing him as “a weightlifter and a poet.”
Bronfman performs Salonen
In mid-December, Bronfman performs Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Piano Concerto in Europe, with the composer conducting the Vienna Philharmonic for four concerts in Vienna and two in Germany. Bronfman and Salonen are longtime prize-winning collaborators; they won a Grammy Award in 1997 for their album of the Bartók concertos. Their dazzling Deutsche Grammophon recording of Salonen’s Piano Concerto, recorded live with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, was nominated for a 2010 Grammy Award.
Bronfman and Salonen unveiled the Piano Concerto in 2007 with the New York Philharmonic, subsequently touring it to festivals in Edinburgh, Helsinki, and Lucerne. At Lincoln Center for that first performance, Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times wrote that Bronfman “sweated bullets at the premiere and complained to any reporter who would listen about just how outrageously difficult the solo part was. … No one took him seriously; he was a sensation.” Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times added:
“Mr. Bronfman played [the concerto] with stunning command, myriad colorings, incisive articulation and subtlety, a performance all the more impressive because Mr. Salonen did not hand over the completed score until early last month. … I cannot remember the last time a premiere at the New York Philharmonic won such an enthusiastic ovation.”
On March 18, 2011, Bronfman will present the world premiere of an as-yet-untitled Salonen piece in his Carnegie Hall solo recital. The pianist’s other 2011 highlights include performances of the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 with the New York Philharmonic and Christoph von Dohnányi (Jan 13-15) and a Carnegie Hall concert of Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Israel Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta (Feb 22).
Yefim Bronfman’s winter 2010 engagements
November 15
Princeton, NJ
MOZART, BEETHOVEN, BRAHMS
with Pinchas Zukerman, violin/viola
McCarter Theatre Center
November 17
Chicago, IL
MOZART, BEETHOVEN, BRAHMS
with Pinchas Zukerman, violin/viola
Orchestra Hall
November 19
Kansas City, MO
MOZART, BEETHOVEN, BRAHMS
with Pinchas Zukerman, violin/viola
Folly Theater
November 20
New York, NY
MOZART, BEETHOVEN, BRAHMS
with Pinchas Zukerman, violin/viola
Carnegie Hall
November 21
Boston, MA
MOZART, BEETHOVEN, BRAHMS
with Pinchas Zukerman, violin/viola
Symphony Hall
November 24, 26, & 27
San Francisco, CA
BRAHMS: Piano Concerto No. 1
San Francisco Symphony / Michael Tilson Thomas
Davies Symphony Hall
December 3-7
Rome, Italy
RACHMANINOFF: Piano Concerto No. 3
Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia / Diego Matheuz
Il Parco della Musica
December 11-12
Vienna, Austria
SALONEN: Piano Concerto
Vienna Philharmonic / Esa-Pekka Salonen
Musikverein
December 13
Vienna, Austria
SALONEN: Piano Concerto
Vienna Philharmonic / Esa-Pekka Salonen
Konzerthaus
December 14
Vienna, Austria
SALONEN: Piano Concerto
Vienna Philharmonic / Esa-Pekka Salonen
Musikverein
December 17
Freiburg, Germany
SALONEN: Piano Concerto
Vienna Philharmonic / Esa-Pekka Salonen
Venue to be determined
December 18
Cologne, Germany
SALONEN: Piano Concerto
Vienna Philharmonic / Esa-Pekka Salonen
Köln Philharmonie
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