Opening weekend for the Allentown Symphony Orchestra 2023-24 season features internationally-renowned Yefim Bronfman, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 14 and 2 p.m. Oct. 15, Miller Symphony Hall, Allentown.

“This is a fabulous program as the opener for our 2023-24 classical concert season,” says Diane Wittry, Allentown Symphony Orchestra Music Director and Conductor.

“This whole program was built around our wonderful guest pianist and world-class artist, Yefim Bronfman,” Wittry says.

“We have three wonderful pieces and musically, I feel that these three musical voices work very well together,” says Wittry of the “Bronfman Plays Brahms” concert. Wittry hosts “Meet the Artist,” noon Oct. 13, Symphony Hall.

The concert opens with “Starburst” by Jessie Montgomery, composer-in-residence, Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Montgomery describes the brief one-movement work as a “play on imagery of rapidly-changing musical colors. Exploding gestures are juxtaposed with gentle, fleeting melodies.”

Says Wittry of the Montgomery piece, “It’s very short and tight and energetic and a really fun way to start the concert.”

The ASO concert continues with Louise Farrenc’s “Symphony No. 3 in G minor, Op. 36.”

Farrenc, a relatively-unknown French female composer, pianist and educator, lived 1804 to 1875. In addition to her compositions, her notable accomplishments, even by today’s standards, include: first female accepted into the composition class at the Paris Conservatory, first woman on the Conservatory’s faculty, and she argued for equal pay and was successful.

“Those accomplishments tell you the amount of respect the colleagues had for her as a pianist, a teacher and composer,” says Wittry.

The Farrenc work is in four movements. The third movement is a Scherzo and, according to Wittry, is a “bridge to the Brahms.”

After intermission, the orchestra performs Johannes Brahms’ “Piano Concerto No. 2 in Bb major, Op. 83,” featuring renowned piano soloist Yefim Bronfman.

“Yefim Bronfman is in the top echelon of classical pianists active today,” says Al Jacobsen, Allentown Symphony Executive Director. “It is a coup for the Allentown Symphony that he will be soloing with us for the first time.”

Internationally-recognized as one of today’s most acclaimed and admired pianists, Bronfman’s commanding technique, power and exceptional lyrical gifts are consistently acknowledged by critics and audiences alike.

Bronfman, born in Tashkent, the former Soviet Union, emigrated with his family to Israel in 1973. He studied piano with pianist Arie Vardi, head of the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University, and continued studies at The Julliard School, Marlboro School of Music and Curtis Institute of Music.

He received the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize, the Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in piano performance from Northwestern University, and an honorary doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music.

Says Jacobsen, “The week after he is in Allentown, Mr. Bronfman will be the featured soloist performing with the New York Philharmonic, an orchestra he has performed with many times going back decades.

“In November, he travels to Japan and South Korea where he will be the featured soloist with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra on its tour of those countries. The Concertgebouw is one of the most prestigious orchestras not just in Europe but in the world, right up there with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics.

“But before all this … he will be here in Allentown,” says Jacobson.

Allentown Symphony Orchestra, “Bronfman Plays Brahms,” 7:30 p.m. Oct. 14; 2 p.m. Oct. 15, Miller Symphony Hall, 23 N. Sixth St., Allentown; Tickets: box office; 610-432-6715; https://www.millersymphonyhall.org

“Classical View” is a column about classical music, concerts, conductors and performers. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnon-line.com