“Then Bronfman appeared: Bronfman, the brontosaurus! Mister Fortissimo!” wrote Philip Roth in his bestselling novel The Human Stain. “I have never seen anyone approach the piano in that way,” he added. Like many other concertgoers, Roth was fascinated by Bronfman’s physical presence, his virtuosity, his spontaneity, and his nuanced sense of interpretation. Born in Tashkent and now a US citizen, Bronfman shies away from superficial “grand gestures”, a trait he shares with Leon Fleisher and Rudolf Serkin, his teachers. Bronfman is one of the few world-class pianists who have pursued an outstanding career without ever having participated in major competitions; he was selected, however, for the Avery Fisher Prize, one of the highest honors for an American musician. Bronfman once said that five lifetimes would not be enough to play all the wonderful music there is to discover. Regarding one of his favorite composers, he once remarked: “The more we learn about Beethoven, the less we feel we truly know about him. Beethoven shall always remain a mystery.” Bronfman will be taking up the Beethoven gauntlet for his eighth performance at the Ruhr Piano Festival. Thanks to his ability to serve music with boundless technical aplomb while avoiding any sort of superficial vanity, this promises to be a fascinating recital.