EMMANUEL PAHUD & YEFIM BRONFMAN

Pianist Series: Yefim Bronfman

The Concertgebouw’s famous Main Hall is one of the best concert halls in the world, well-known for its exceptional acoustics and special atmosphere. In the Main Hall, you will feel history. Here, Gustav Mahler conducted his own compositions, as did Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky. Sergei Rachmaninoff played his own piano concertos in the Main Hall. This is also where musicians such as Leonard Bernstein, Vladimir Horowitz and Yehudi Menuhin gave legendary performances. Right up to now, the Main Hall offers a stage to the world’s best orchestras and musicians. Buy your tickets now and experience the magic of the Main Hall for yourself!

Yefim Bronfman plays Schumann

The writer Jean Giono was convinced that “the world is an optimistic creation”, citing as proof the fact that “all birds sing in a major key!" In keeping with springtime, this concert will put some chirruping birds on stage, starting with a composition from our guest conductor's native Finland. Einojuhani Rautavaara, who died in 2016, was a creative free spirit. He wrote his popular "Cantus Arcticus" in 1972 – a neo-romantic, mystical piece that uses tape recordings of bird calls. Our programme also features a masterpiece by Stravinsky, whom Cocteau described in poetic terms: "From a musical point of view, we were all in the midst of impressionism. There, suddenly, in the midst of the magical ruins, a tree grew – Stravinsky." In this fairy-tale score, the glittering firebird flutters through an enchanted garden. Schumann, too, was inspired by feathered beings: according to his wife Clara, he “firmly believed that angels were hovering around him, making the most glorious revelations to him." Yefim Bronfman will dive into the romantic wonderland of Schumann's Piano Concerto, first performed in 1845, which contains an allusion to the aria "In des Lebens Frühlingstagen" (“In the spring of life”) from Beethoven's "Fidelio”. The celebrated South Korean composer Donghoon Shin once said that in his creative workshop he could "hear all the sounds of the universe", and accordingly his work is shaped by a huge range of different influences. His brand-new orchestral piece is inspired by the political poem "Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen" by the Irish Literature Nobel Prize laureate William Butler Yeats – and challenges the notion of an “optimistic creation”, reflecting our current troubled times.

Yefim Bronfman plays Schumann

The writer Jean Giono was convinced that “the world is an optimistic creation”, citing as proof the fact that “all birds sing in a major key!" In keeping with springtime, this concert will put some chirruping birds on stage, starting with a composition from our guest conductor's native Finland. Einojuhani Rautavaara, who died in 2016, was a creative free spirit. He wrote his popular "Cantus Arcticus" in 1972 – a neo-romantic, mystical piece that uses tape recordings of bird calls. Our programme also features a masterpiece by Stravinsky, whom Cocteau described in poetic terms: "From a musical point of view, we were all in the midst of impressionism. There, suddenly, in the midst of the magical ruins, a tree grew – Stravinsky." In this fairy-tale score, the glittering firebird flutters through an enchanted garden. Schumann, too, was inspired by feathered beings: according to his wife Clara, he “firmly believed that angels were hovering around him, making the most glorious revelations to him." Yefim Bronfman will dive into the romantic wonderland of Schumann's Piano Concerto, first performed in 1845, which contains an allusion to the aria "In des Lebens Frühlingstagen" (“In the spring of life”) from Beethoven's "Fidelio”. The celebrated South Korean composer Donghoon Shin once said that in his creative workshop he could "hear all the sounds of the universe", and accordingly his work is shaped by a huge range of different influences. His brand-new orchestral piece is inspired by the political poem "Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen" by the Irish Literature Nobel Prize laureate William Butler Yeats – and challenges the notion of an “optimistic creation”, reflecting our current troubled times.

Pablo Heras-Casado & Yefim Bronfman

Pablo Heras-Casado & Yefim Bronfman

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra / Yefim Bronfman / Manfred Honeck

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra has a distinguished history of promoting new American works. In 1986, for example, it premiered John Adams’s fanfare for orchestra »Short Ride in a Fast Machine«, with which the musicians opened their concert in the Elbphilharmonie Grand Hall under the direction of long-standing chief conductor Manfred Honeck. For Rachmaninov’s mighty »Concerto for Elephants«, whose piano part allegedly has the most notes per second of all the great piano concertos, the Grammy award winning orchestra will be joined by brilliant American pianist Yefim Bronfman. The programme continues in a late Romantic style after the interval with an orchestral suite from Giacomo Puccini’s last opera »Turandot« – even without vocals, great emotions unfold in an arrangement by Manfred Honeck. The work is juxtaposed with Stravinsky’s music to the ballet »The Firebird«, in which Ivan Tsarevich defeats the evil sorcerer Kastschei with the help of a fantastic bird.

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Yefim Bronfman / Alan Gilbert

Alan Gilbert, chief conductor of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, and piano legend Yefim Bronfman have been working together for many years. In two concerts at the Elbphilharmonie, the duo now performs Ludwig van Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto in C minor. The concert continues in the fateful key of F minor when Gilbert conducts Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony.

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Yefim Bronfman / Alan Gilbert

Alan Gilbert, chief conductor of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, and piano legend Yefim Bronfman have been working together for many years. In two concerts at the Elbphilharmonie, the duo now performs Ludwig van Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto in C minor. The concert continues in the fateful key of F minor when Gilbert conducts Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony.