Yefim Bronfman is “a powerhouse pianist with a tone of crystalline clarity” (Los Angeles Times), “a marvel of digital dexterity” (Chicago Tribune), for whom “no score is too demanding” (Wall Street Journal).
At 7 p.m. Sunday, March 2, the Great Artists Series at Washington University in St. Louis will welcome Bronfman’s return for an evening of music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Robert Schumann, Claude Debussy and Pyotr Tchaikovsky.
The performance, which serves as the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences’ Annual Pillsbury Event, will open with Mozart’s brisk and playful Piano Sonata No. 12 in F Major, K. 332/300k (1783), followed by Schumann’s gently swirling “Arabeske, Op. 18” (1838) and Debussy’s painterly “Images, 2ème série” (1907).
Following intermission, the program will conclude with Tchaikovsky’s yearning, challenging — and unjustly neglected — Grand Sonata in G Major, Op. 37 (1878).
Yefim Bronfman
Renowned for his commanding technique and exceptional lyrical gifts, Bronfman has appeared with leading orchestras and given solo recitals in major halls around the world, including his acclaimed debuts at Carnegie Hall in 1989 and Avery Fisher Hall in 1993. He is a six-time Grammy nominee and a Grammy winner, in 1997, for his recording of the three Bartók Piano Concerti, with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Born in Tashkent in the Soviet Union, 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 School of Music, and the Curtis Institute of Music, under Rudolf Firkusny, Leon Fleisher and Rudolf Serkin. His many honors include the Avery Fisher Prize, the Jean Gimbel Lane prize in piano performance an honorary doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music.
Bronfman previously performed for the Great Artists Series in 2017. Read a full biography on the music website.
Great Artists Series
Sponsored by the Department of Music, the Great Artists Series welcomes some of the brightest stars on the contemporary concert stage to St. Louis. The series will continue March 23 with star tenor Lawrence Brownlee. Vân-Ánh Võ & the Blood Moon Quartet, a chamber ensemble featuring traditional Vietnamese instruments, will conclude the series April 6.
Tickets and related events
Bronfman’s performance will begin at 7 p.m. Sunday, March 2, in WashU’s E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall. Tickets are $35-40, or $32-37 for WashU faculty and staff, and $15 for students and children.
The E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall is located in the 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity Ave., at the intersection with Delmar Boulevard. Tickets are available through the WashU Box Office, 314-935-6543. For more information, visit music.wustl.edu.
The Great Artists Series is made possible with support from the Regional Arts Commission and from the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.
