Grammy Award-Winning Pianist Yefim "Fima" Bronfman has busy Summer Schedule

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Opens Tanglewood (JULY 3), Ravinia (JULY 7) and Saratoga (AUG. 5), and is Artist Étoile at Lucerne Festival

“A marvel of digital dexterity, warmly romantic sentiment and jaw-dropping bravura” – Chicago Tribune

The Grammy Award-winning pianist Yefim “Fima” Bronfman is set to embark on a juggernaut tour of American and European music festivals this summer. The beloved pianist has been chosen as the opening soloist for the Tanglewood (July 3), Ravinia (July 7) and Saratoga (August 5) festivals, and as Artist Étoile for the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland . Bronfman will also appear at Waldbühne for a televised concert with the Berlin Philharmonic (June 21), and on tour in Europe with conductor/composer Esa-Pekka Salonen for performances of his Piano Concerto, which was written for Bronfman. “This is a summer that I have been planning and looking forward to for a long time,” the pianist comments. “I will be visiting top festivals around the world and collaborating with many of my favorite conductors and orchestras. It’s a summer I will remember for many years to come.”

Before beginning his tour of American music festivals, Bronfman will appear at Berlin ’s stunning outdoor venue Waldbühne for a televised concert with Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic. Upon his return, Bronfman is featured at the opening night of the Tanglewood Festival with Maestro James Levine and the Boston Symphony Orchestra playing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. (He will return to the festival on August 14 to play Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with Michael Tilson Thomas on the podium.) Bronfman will also be the featured soloist at the opening night of the Ravinia Festival (July 7), playing Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with James Conlon. Before playing the opening-night concert of the Saratoga Festival on August 5, Bronfman will make stops at the Aspen Music Festival (August 2) and in Tel Aviv with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic (July 10-17).

Bronfman tours Europe with Salonen Concerto
Bronfman and Esa-Pekka Salonen will continue to perform the conductor/composer’s Piano Concerto throughout the summer. The concerto was written for Bronfman and premiered with the New York Philharmonic in 2007. Since then, Bronfman has performed the work nearly a dozen times throughout North America and Europe , including a recording for Deutsche Grammophon with the composer conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic. This summer, the pair will perform the piece at Scotland ’s Edinburgh Festival and in the composer’s native country for the first time at the Helsinki Festival. Maestro Salonen and Bronfman will also give the piece its Swiss premiere as part of the pianist’s Artist Étoile residency at the Lucerne Festival.

Bronfman is Artist Étoile at the Lucerne Festival
Bronfman will end the summer with an impressive two-week residency at the Lucerne Festival. During his residency as Artist Étoile, Bronfman will perform Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Zubin Mehta and the Vienna Philharmonic, Berg’s Kammerkonzert with Pierre Boulez and the Academy Orchestra, and Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Piano Concerto with the composer conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra. “The orchestral concerts include what I feel to be the perfect pairing of an orchestra, conductor and repertoire,” explains Bronfman. “Maestro Mehta and I have done countless concerts together, but Brahms with him and Vienna is a dream, and having Maestro Boulez for the Berg is a personal triumph for me. He was conducting the first time I heard the piece, and I was completely overwhelmed by that performance. For the last 20 years I have wanted to play that piece with Pierre Boulez. Thanks to the Lucerne Festival, that is now possible.”

The other two concerts Bronfman will perform at the festival are a solo recital and a chamber music concert; both will feature music by the young German composer and clarinetist Jörg Widman. On his solo recital, Bronfman will play the European premiere of Widman’s Eleven Humoresques, which was commissioned for him by Carnegie Hall and premiered there last May. Widman will join Bronfman as a performer in the August 22 chamber music recital.

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