No. 2042 Subscription (Program A)

Fabio Luisi hails from Genoa. He first conducted the NHK Symphony Orchestra in 2001 and became its Chief Conductor in September 2022. He performed Verdi’s Requiem to celebrate his appointment, and Mahler’s Symphonie der Tausend for the orchestra’s 2000th subscription concert in 2023. In 2024, he led the orchestra’s Taiwanese tour, and then in May 2025, he successfully led its European tour scheduled in conjunction with Amsterdam’s Mahler Festival at The Concertgebouw, the Prague Spring Festival and the Dresdner Musikfestspiele: the NHK Symphony Orchestra was the first Asian orchestra to appear at the Mahler Festival, performing the composer’s Symphonies No. 3 and No. 4 to critical praise.
Currently the Principal Conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and the Music Director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, he was General Music Director of the Opernhaus Zürich, Principal Conductor of New York’s Metropolitan Opera, Chief Conductor of the Wiener Symphoniker, General Music Director of the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Sächsische Staatsoper, Principal Conductor and Chief Conductor of the MDR-Sinfonieorchester, Artistic Director of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Chief Conductor of the Tonkünstler Orchester and Artistic Director of the Grazer Symphonisches Orchester. He is also Music Director of Puglia’s Festival della Valle d’Itria Martina Franca and Emeritus Conductor of Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai. He is a frequent guest of leading orchestras including the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Saito Kinen Orchestra, opera houses and festivals worldwide.
In recording, his complete Nielsen symphonic cycle with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra was recognized with Limelight and Abbiati Awards in 2023, while its first volume was named Recording of the Year by Gramophone. He received a Grammy Award for his leadership of the last two operas of Wagner’s Ring cycle at the Metropolitan Opera, as released on DVD. His first CD with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 (1st version) was released in May 2025.
He is an accomplished composer and maker of perfumes.

Born in Tashkent in the Soviet Union in 1958, 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 Firkušný, Leon Fleisher and Rudolf Serkin. His commanding technique, power and exceptional lyrical gifts have since made him internationally recognized as one of today’s most acclaimed and admired pianists.
He works regularly with the world’s greatest orchestras including Wiener Philharmoniker, Berliner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and New York Philharmonic under the baton of an illustrious group of conductors such as Fabio Luisi, Herbert Blomstedt, Daniel Barenboim, Riccardo Chailly, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Simon Rattle and Andris Nelsons.
This is his first appearance with the NHK Symphony Orchestra in almost a quarter century since June 2001. He will perform for us Beethoven’s majestic Fifth Concerto Emperor, a repertoire he has been very much at home with, particularly since he recorded all the composer’s piano concertos and Triple Concerto together with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich under David Zinman to critical praise.