Yefim Bronfman with Scriabin, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and more

Richard Wagner, born in Leipzig, Germany, was a revolutionary Romantic composer. He is renowned for his music dramas, including "The Ring of the Nibelung" and "Tristan und Isolde," which feature his innovative use of leitmotifs and Gesamtkunstwerk ("total work of art"). His complex harmonies and dramatic orchestration profoundly influenced Western classical music.

Founded in Boston (1881), top U.S. symphony rooted in German tradition; famed RCA & DG recordings, Tanglewood. Premiered Stravinsky/Bartók; played Spielberg films with John Williams.

Riga-born conductor; Music Director of Boston Symphony & Gewandhauskapellmeister Leipzig. Deutsche Grammophon artist; acclaimed Shostakovich/Bruckner/Beethoven cycles; 4 Grammys.

Tashkent-born pianist Yefim Bronfman: Russian modern master (Prokofiev/Shostakovich), Grammy for Bartók w/ Salonen/LA Phil; Avery Fisher; collabs Ax, Mintz.

Franz Liszt was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, and teacher of the Romantic period. Recognized as a child prodigy, he began performing publicly at age nine and studied in Vienna under Carl Czerny and Antonio Salieri. He achieved unprecedented European stardom in the 1830s and 1840s, provoking a fan hysteria known as Lisztomania. Liszt revolutionized the standard piano recital by playing entirely from memory and positioning the piano to face the audience. His extensive musical legacy includes inventing the symphonic poem, pioneering the masterclass, and developing a vast body of influential compositions such as the Hungarian Rhapsodies.