BEETHOVEN EMPEROR PIANO CONCERTO FEATURING BRONFMAN
Academy, he was appointed assistant conductor of the Hallé Orchestra, where he was mentored by Sir Mark Elder, and became Music Director of the Hallé Youth Orchestra. In 2023, he became a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music.
Jonathon is committed to education and community outreach work, as well as to including new music within his imaginative concert programs.
Yefim Bronfman
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.
A frequent touring partner with the world ' s greatest orchestras and
Yefim Bronfman
conductors, the 2024 – 25 season begins with the Pittsburgh and NDR Hamburg symphonies on tour in Europe, followed by China and Japan with the Vienna Philharmonic. With orchestras in the U. S., he returns to Cleveland, New York, Houston, Portland, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami, Sarasota, and Pittsburgh, and in Europe to Hamburg, Helsinki, Berlin, Lyon, and Vienna. In advance of a spring Carnegie Hall recital his program can be heard in Austin, St. Louis, Stillwater OK,
Dario Acosta
San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Washington D. C., Amsterdam, Rome, Lisbon, and Spain. Two special projects are scheduled in this season— duos with flutist Emmanuel Pahud in Europe in the fall and trios with Anne-Sophie Mutter and Pablo Ferrandez in the U. S. in spring.
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, 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.
NOTES ON THE PROGRAM
By Heather O ' Donovan
Ludwig van Beethoven
Baptized December 17, 1770 in Bonn, Germany Died March 26, 1827 in Vienna, Austria
PIANO CONCERTO NO. 5,“ EMPEROR” [ 1809 ]
The bombardment began at 9pm on a Thursday evening in spring— May 11, 1809. As patrons emerged from Vienna’ s restaurants and pedestrians ambled through the streets, they were met with a sudden rain of artillery fire. Caught in the attack were the torchbearers and heirs of Vienna’ s cultural elite. One shell struck the imperial school where then- 12-year-old Franz Schubert boarded. Others threatened to raze the neighborhood where Vienna’ s star virtuoso pianist and composer, Ludwig van Beethoven, resided; compelled to take refuge in a cellar, Beethoven pressed pillows to his already failing ears, muffling the explosions above. Just before dawn, Vienna capitulated to the invading French forces. Napoleon had won.
Three and a half years earlier, the French had once more occupied the city— though without the violence that preceded the 1809 invasion. Then, the Viennese, not exactly welcoming of the intrusion, had at least tolerated the troops’ presence. For one, Austrian censorship relaxed under French rule. But violence, pillaging, and theft were rampant, and inflation was high. By 1809, conditions had worsened: battlefield casualties mounted, disease spread, and soon the currency would lose 80 % of its value.
Beethoven felt these hardships acutely. With his aristocratic patrons struggling to guarantee his promised annuity, in July 1809 Beethoven appealed to his
publisher:“ my position, only lately assured, rests on a loose foundation.” He continued:“ What a disturbing, wild life all around me, a city filled with nothing but drums, cannon, marching men, and misery of all sorts.” It was under these bleak circumstances that Beethoven completed his fifth piano concerto.
Beethoven’ s early concertos, among other works, had helped establish his prowess as Vienna’ s foremost virtuoso pianist. Illustratively, during one particular performance of his Op. 16 quintet for piano and winds, the composer had launched into an extended pianistic improvisation, obliging his frustrated fellow musicians to wait with instruments poised— though absolutely delighting the audience. But Beethoven’ s writings reveal a deep dissatisfaction with this, his principal instrument. He sought custombuilt pianos— one letter to a piano maker reads,“ All good wishes, if you send me a
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