Yefim Bronfman

Yefim Bronfman
Ефим Бронфман
Bronfman in 2009
Born
Yefim Naumovich Bronfman

(1958-04-10) April 10, 1958
Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union
OccupationPianist

Yefim "Fima" Naumovich Bronfman (Russian: Ефим Наумович Бронфман; born April 10, 1958) is a Soviet-born Israeli-American pianist.[1] He has performed as a soloist and with major symphony orchestras globally since 1975.[2] He won a Grammy Award in 1997.[3]

Biography

Bronfman was born in 1958 in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR to a Jewish family of musicians. His father Naum Bronfman was concertmaster of the municipal opera orchestra, and his mother Pauline Bronfman was a pianist. His older sister Elizabeth later became a violinist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.[4] He began music lessons at age seven with his mother and attended a music school for gifted children in Tashkent. In 1970, he gave his first performance with the school orchestra playing Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 1.

He immigrated to Israel in 1973 at the age of 15. He auditioned for Eugene Istomin and made his international debut later that year under Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1974, after a competition chaired by violinist Isaac Stern, he won a scholarship from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation (AICF). This allowed him to study under Arie Vardi, head of the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University. He was gifted his first piano by philanthropist Fredric R. Mann.

In 1976, Bronfman moved to New York City to study under Rudolf Firkušný at the Juilliard School.[5] He also studied under Leon Fleisher at the Marlboro Music School in Vermont and Rudolf Serkin at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.[6]

Bronfman made North American debut in 1975 under Zubin Mehta and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. He made debuts with the New York Philharmonic in 1978 performing Beethoven's Triple Concerto with violinist Shlomo Mintz and cellist Yo-Yo Ma, at Carnegie Hall in 1989, and at Avery Fisher Hall in 1993.[7]

He became an American citizen in 1989.[8] In 1991, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, he returned to Russia for the first time since he was a teenager to deliver a series of joint recitals with violinist Isaac Stern.[9]

Bronfman is a six-time Grammy Award nominee.[10] In 1997, he won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (with orchestra) along with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic for their recording of the three Bartók Piano Concerti.[11] His most recent nomination was in 2014 for his recording of Piano Concerto No. 2, commissioned for him by Magnus Lindberg and performed by the New York Philharmonic.[12]

He joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2020 and also teaches at the Manhattan School of Music.[13]

Personal life

Bronfman lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He is interested in stamp collecting and African art.[14]

Awards

References

  1. ^ Pâris, Alain (2015). Le nouveau dictionnaire des interprètes. Bouquins (Nouvelle éd. actualisée ed.). Paris: Robert Laffont. ISBN 978-2-221-14576-0.
  2. ^ Phemister, William (20 June 2018). The American Piano Concerto Compendium. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. pp. 193, 298. ISBN 979-8-216-21470-0. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
  3. ^ "MEET THE SOLOIST: Yefim Bronfman". Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
  4. ^ "Musical meeting will lead to wedding bells". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 2025-02-08.
  5. ^ Wigler, Stephen (May 29, 1992). "Yefim Bronfman At 33, pianist already an old-timer". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
  6. ^ "Yefim Bronfman". Mariinsky Theatre. Retrieved 2020-08-23.
  7. ^ Tuck, Lily (5 September 2017). Sisters. Atlantic Monthly Press. ISBN 978-0-8021-8920-2. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
  8. ^ "The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence, 2013–14". New York Philharmonic. Archived from the original on 2014-07-24. Retrieved 2014-06-26.
  9. ^ LLC, New York Media (16 September 1996). New York Magazine. New York Media, LLC. p. 6A. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
  10. ^ Otten, Liam (26 February 2025). "Grammy winner Yefim Bronfman March 2". The Source. Washington University of St Louis. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
  11. ^ "Yefim Bronfman | Artist | GRAMMY.com". grammy.com. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
  12. ^ "About". Yefim Bronfman. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
  13. ^ "Yefim Bronfman". Curtis Institute of Music. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
  14. ^ "Yefim Bronfman". Encyclopedia. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
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