Yefim Bronfman

Pianist Yefim Bronfman has been a fixture of concert stages, especially in the U.S., since becoming an American citizen in 1989. He is especially admired for his performances of modern Russian repertory, in which he balances pianistic fireworks with the moody introspection common to many of the works of the otherwise diverse Prokofiev and Shostakovich. He earned a Grammy Award in 1997 for his recordings of Bartók's three piano concertos. In 2000, he reached wider audiences when his performance of Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 102, was featured in the film Fantasia 2000. Bronfman accompanied Shlomo Mintz in a recording of Prokofiev violin sonatas in 2019 and mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená on the album Nostalgia in 2021. In 2024, the Munich Philharmonic issued a recording of the Brahms' piano concertos featuring Zubin Mehta as conductor, nearly 50 years after Bronfman had begun his major-orchestra performing career under Mehta.