Osmo Vänskä has been music director of the Minnesota Orchestra for 17 years and is music director of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra since 2020. Recognized for compelling interpretations of repertoire of all ages and an energetic presence on the podium, his democratic and inclusive style of work has been key in forging long-standing relationships with different orchestras.

With the Minnesota Orchestra, Vänskä has undertaken five major European tours, as well as historic trips to Cuba in 2015, at the invitation of the Cuban Ministry of Culture—the first visit by an American orchestra since the two countries announced steps to re-establish diplomatic relations—and South Africa in 2018, as part of worldwide celebrations of Nelson Mandela’s Centenary. The latter was the first visit by an American orchestra to the country and drew together South African and American performers in musical expressions of peace, freedom and reconciliation, on a five-city tour that followed a successful return to London’s BBC Proms.

Other highlights of his tenure in Minnesota include 20 album recordings, leading and mentoring young composers during the annual Composer Institute seminar and conducting its Future Classics concerts, performances at New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center and Chicago’s Symphony Center, and various educational and outreach projects in Minneapolis and other cities across the United States.

Internationally recognized as one of today’s most acclaimed and admired pianists, Yefim Bronfman is an artist regularly sought by the world’s leading orchestras, recital series, and festivals. His performances are consistently lauded by the press and audiences alike.

Although the coronavirus pandemic has curtailed most in-person performances, Mr. Bronfman is engaged in a number of online concerts in Fall 2020, including appearances with the Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, a solo concert for the Gilmore Foundation, and a recital with the Emerson String Quartet for the 92nd Street Y.

Born in Tashkent in the Soviet Union, Mr. 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, one of the highest honors given to American instrumentalists, he received the Jean Gimbel Lane prize in piano performance from Northwestern University in 2010 and an honorary doctorate in 2015 from the Manhattan School of Music.

Mr. Bronfman joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2020. He also teaches at the Manhattan School of Music.

Acclaimed for its “otherworldly ensemble and professional level of sophistication” (New York Times), the Curtis Symphony Orchestra offers a dynamic showcase of tomorrow’s exceptional young talent. Each year the 100 extraordinary musicians of the orchestra work with internationally renowned conductors, including Osmo Vänskä, Vladimir Jurowski, Marin Alsop, Simon Rattle, Robert Spano, and Yannick Nézet Séguin, who also mentors the early-career conductors who hold Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellowships. This professional training has enabled Curtis alumni to assume prominent positions in America’s leading orchestras, as well as esteemed orchestral, opera, and chamber ensembles around the world.