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Emanuel Ax and Yefim Bronfman Emanuel Ax, Piano Emanuel Ax is renowned not only for his poetic temperament and unsurpassed virtuosity, but also for the exceptional breadth of his performing activity. Each season his distinguished career includes appearances with major symphony orchestras worldwide, recitals in the most celebrated concert halls, a variety of chamber music collaborations, the commissioning and performance of new music, and additions to his acclaimed discography on Sony Classical. During the 2004-05 season, Mr. Ax has embarked on separate recital tours with two long-standing colleagues: cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Yefim Bronfman. In the fall he visited the Far East for performances in Guangzhou, Beijing, Seoul, Hong Kong and Taipei. He also participated in a BBC documentary commemorating the Holocaust which aired in January 2005. In the spring he will tour the United States with the Dresden Staatskapelle and Myung-Whun Shung (with performances in Carnegie Hall and Boston’s Symphony Hall). Mr. Ax has been an exclusive Sony Classical recording artist since 1987, making his debut on that label with a collection of Chopin scherzos and mazurkas. Mr. Ax’s third volume in the recording cycle of Haydn Piano Sonatas received a Grammy Award in February 2004. Born in Lvov, Poland, Emanuel Ax moved to Winnipeg, Canada, with his family when he was a young boy. His studies at The Juilliard School were greatly supported by the sponsorship of the Epstein Scholarship Program of the Boys Clubs of America, and he subsequently won the Young Concert Artists Award. His piano teacher was Mieczylaw Munz. Additionally, he attended Columbia University, where he majored in French. Mr. Ax resides in New York City with his wife, the pianist Yoko Nozaki. They have two children, Joseph and Sarah. For more information about Mr. Ax’s career, please visit www.EmanuelAx.com. Yefim Bronfman, Piano Yefim Bronfman is widely regarded as one of the most talented virtuoso pianists performing today. His commanding technique and exceptional lyrical gifts have won him consistent critical acclaim and enthusiastic audiences worldwide, whether for his solo recitals, his prestigious orchestral engagements or his rapidly growing catalogue of recordings. An exclusive Sony Classical recording artist, Mr. Bronfman won a Grammy award in 1997 for his recording of the three Bartok Piano Concertos with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He was also nominated for both a Grammy and Gramophone award for his recording of all five Prokofiev Piano concertos. Highlights of Mr. Bronfman’s 2004-05 season include a duo recital tour of the US with Emanuel Ax; a performance with the Kirov Orchestra and Valery Gergiev at Carnegie Hall; as well as concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic in Japan, Salzburg and Amsterdam. As a special project he will record Beethoven’s 3rd and 4th piano concertos as well as Beethoven’s Triple Concerto together with violinist Gil Shaham, cellist Truls Mørk, and the Tönhalle Orchestra Zürich under David Zinman as the first in a series of the complete Beethoven concerti for the Arte Nova label. A consummate chamber music performer, Mr. Bronfman has collaborated with the Emerson, Cleveland, Guarneri and Juilliard quartets, as well as the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has performed chamber works with Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Lynn Harrell, Shlomo Mintz, Emanuel Ax, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Pinchas Zukerman and many other artists. As this year’s Pianist in Residence with The Berlin Philharmonic, he will perform multiple chamber music concerts with the orchestra’s members throughout the season. Mr. Bronfman was born in Tashkent, in the Soviet Union, on April 10, 1958. He 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. He made his international debut with Zubin Mehta and the Montreal Symphony. In the United States he studied at The Juilliard School, Marlboro and the Curtis Institute, and with Rudolf Firkusny, Leon Fleisher and Rudolf Serkin. He made his New York Philharmonic debut in May 1978, his Washington recital debut in March 1981 at the Kennedy Center and his New York recital debut in January 1982 at the 92nd Street Y. Yefim Bronfman became an American citizen in July 1989. |
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