Event Calendar
BRONFMAN PLAYS BRAHMS
Sunday, October 15, 2023, 2:00 pm
Subscriptions are on sale now.
Don't miss your chance to hear pianist YEFIM BRONFMAN with the Allentown Symphony Orchestra befoe he departs for his next engagement . . .
with THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC!
OPENING WEEKEND showcases superstar pianist Yefim Bronfman performing the perennial favorite of Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2. As a maturing composer, Brahms’ works grew ever grander even though he referred to works such as this as his little piano pieces. These symphonic concertos are anything but little. Louise Farrenc was a Frenchwoman of remarkable musical abilities. Her skill as a performer was widely recognized but surpassed by that as a composer and her passion was for large scale symphonic scores like the Symphony No. 3 at a time when the obstacles for a woman made any sort of success hard. This charming work lay forgotten for years until it was rediscovered where we may enjoy it fully. Starburst by American composer and New York Native, Jessie Montgomery is packed with energetic motives and layers of bright, swirling ideas, Starburst reflects the formation of new stars in a galaxy.
Diane Wittry, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano
JESSIE MONTGOMERY Starburst
FARRENC Symphony No. 3
BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 2
Yefim Bronfman Bio
Internationally recognized as one of today’s most acclaimed and admired pianists, Yefim Bronfman stands among a handful of artists regularly sought by festivals, orchestras, conductors, and recital series. His commanding technique, power, and exceptional lyrical gifts are consistently acknowledged by the press and audiences alike. Following summer festival appearances in Verbier and Salzburg and on tour with mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozena, the 2022–23 season begins with the opening week of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, followed by return visits to the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Houston, New World, and Pacific symphonies, and the Madison, New Jersey, Toronto, and Montreal symphony orchestras. In Europe he will tour with Rotterdam Philharmonic and can also be heard with the Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony, Dresden Staatskapelle, Maggio Fiorentino, and Zurich Opera Orchestra. Born in Tashkent in the Soviet Union, Yefim 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. A recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize, one of the highest honors given to American instrumentalists, in 2010 he was further honored as the recipient of the Jean Gimbel Lane prize in piano performance from Northwestern University and in 2015 with an honorary doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music.