The 2021 American Pianists Awards winner Kenny Broberg discusses future plans and looks back to his first piano lessons.

On Sunday, June 27, 2021, American Pianists Association named Kenny Broberg the 2021 American Pianists Awards winner.

Broberg, a Minneapolis native, previously won the silver medal at the 2017 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and the 2019 bronze medal winner at the International Tchaikovsky Competition, as well as winning prizes at the Hastings, Sydney, Seattle, and New Orleans International Piano Competitions. He has appeared with the Royal Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestras, among others. He currently resides in Parkville, Missouri, under the guidance of 2001 Cliburn Gold Medalist Stanislav Ioudenitch at Park University.

Given every four years to a deftly talented pianist identified as a vital young voice in classical music, the prestigious Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship supports Kenny Broberg as he shapes his career with a prize valued at more than $100,000, which includes $50,000 in cash, a recording contract with Steinway & Sons, two years of professional development and assistance, status as Artist-in-Residence at the University of Indianapolis, and performance opportunities worldwide.

Colleen Kennedy: Congratulations on being selected as the winner of the 2021 American Pianists Association! How was this whole experience for you? 

Kenny Broberg: I think it was a little bit different than previous years, just as everything was very different this year, so it had to be completely reorganized because of COVID. American Pianists Awards was held three days in a row plus the majority of the repertoire that we played was recorded three months prior to that. It was done in two trips. I came to Indianapolis three months ago for the solo recitals and during the final week I got to spend some time with the other finalists [Dominic Cheli, Michael Davidman, Sahun Sam Hong and Mackenzie Melemed]. That was great. There's a lot of good camaraderie and I have a lot of respect for all of them as musicians. The whole experience really teaches us how to be flexible because everything had to change so much, but it ended up working out great. We weren’t able to do all the things that that we wanted to do, like a full quintet of chamber music and there were some other accommodations. American Pianists Association, however, absolutely pulled it off. When I returned back to Kansas City after winning, they lit up all of downtown just in honor of the results. It’s not every day you get an entire downtown lit up.  

CK: How has the last year been for you?

KB: I think back to when I was rehearsing with an orchestra in Wisconsin, and everything started to close down—and our concert was cancelled and it was the same day the NBA also shut down, and then when all the other sports teams shut down right after that, too, that was my cue that we’ve never seen anything like this happen before. We had all this time in rehearsal for this performance with the orchestra and then we never played the concert. I hunkered down in my hotel room for a couple days, then canceled my flight and rented a car to drive home. After that, I didn't see a concert stage for quite a long time. I think the first stage I was on again was in January of this year, outdoors in Florida. Outdoor concerts are interesting and challenging in their own ways. One time it started raining during the concert, and then the next concert was a freak cold wave. Everyone's huddled up and I'm trying to warm my hands before playing, but everyone was so friendly and excited to listen to a performance, so it was definitely worth doing it. American Pianists Awards really could not come at a better time for me. Many organizations and presenters are pretty slow in reopening for all the necessary reasons, but APA was planning how to do this remotely. And I knew this would help get me back to the stage.

CK: How did the pandemic affect your practice and rehearsals?

KB: To a certain extent, the pandemic has had an impact on absolutely everybody and not just in financial terms but also emotionally. I was incredibly lucky that I was able to continue working on what I wanted to do with my life. I had a safe place to practice and not everybody was that lucky because a lot of schools closed down and didn’t allow anyone to enter. The only reason that it worked out at Park University is because it's such a small school with only a small roster of performers using the space during those months. I actually learned a lot of new music over the past year and, for a while, it was good because before I was on the road so much and hadn't really stayed in one place for more than a couple weeks at a time in years. Constantly touring isn’t necessarily a healthy way for musicians to live because you need more time for reflection than we usually get. This is just trying to look at it in the most positive light possible, knowing how others have fared.

CK: The final piece you performed was “Dante Sonate” [From “Années de pélerinage” (Years of Pilgrimage) – Franz Liszt Aprés une lecture du Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata (“Dante Sonate”)] and your performance was so wonderfully passionate and dramatic. How did you select this particular piece?

KB: Thank you. That’s a piece that my teacher [Stanislav Ioudenitch] really wanted me to put in the solo recital that was recorded three months prior to that. It didn't work out because of time requirements and all the rest of the repertoire. I didn't even realize until after I'd sent that program that I was going to get another chance to play another solo piece. I jumped at the opportunity to play the Liszt because in terms of the repertoire that I played for the competition I was missing a big Romantic-era work. It’s a great piece for a competition because it's very virtuosic and unbelievably difficult. I've also played it a lot so it's a piece that I feel pretty comfortable with.

CK: Winning the American Pianists Award comes with a recording contract with Steinway & Sons. Are you thinking about what you would like to record? 

KB: Nothing's been finalized yet. There are a lot of different ideas. I've never done an album in a studio before. I've had albums released that were from live performances, which is a lot easier for me. [Broberg’s debut album Cliburn Silver 2017 was recorded live during his award-winning performance and released by Decca Gold. Previously, he appeared on the live-recorded album Encore! featuring the artists and performances from the Sydney International Piano Competition of Australia 2016]. But recording in a studio is a different process and it's more demanding because it takes opening myself up more, more time, and more work, re-performing and re-recording, but I've got a lot of good ideas about songs that I would like to pair with each other.

CK: What other upcoming projects do you have?

KB: I have a couple concerts this summer. I think it will pick up more dramatically in the fall. But they're going to pick up pretty soon, especially with the recording project. I’d like to practice and perform the songs I’ll record for the public first to help with that process of opening up. I'll definitely have a bunch of concerts before then. And I start as the Artist in Residence at University of Indianapolis, which I'm excited about, as part of the American Pianists Awards. I'll be giving a lot of master classes but what’s different is that I'll have the opportunity to give master classes again to the same people. I've given a lot of master classes, but you don't ever get to see them again. I am looking forward to that.

CK: How did you discover the piano? Did you have a piano at home?

KB: Yeah, we had a little upright piano. That was a wedding gift from my grandmother to my mother. My older brother started taking lessons and I actually started lessons on the violin. I convinced my mother into letting me play both violin and piano at around age 5. And piano was really what stuck. I'm lucky because I just fell in love with it right away and never really wanted to do anything else. My brother, however, went into astrophysics.

CK: Who are your greatest influences?

KB: First and foremost, I have had the world's most supportive teachers and mentors that I can really count on in every single way. Currently, that would be Stanislav [Ioudenitch, 2001 Cliburn Gold Medalist] at Park University. And my teacher for my undergrad at the Houston’s Moores School of Music was Nancy Weems. Before college, I studied for 10 years with Dr. Joseph Zins. All three of those people had a pretty big impact on my life. Beyond that, there are so many great pianists that I like to listen to; there's way too many to name. I love listening to old recordings of Rachmaninoff. In terms of playing, I've really felt a really strong connection with the Russian composer Nikolai Medtner. He is not a particularly well-known composer. A close friend of Rachmaninoff, he has a similar style but it’s different enough and distinctly his own, too. I really feel a very strong personal connection with his music and also the way he plays in recordings. I enjoy listening to and exploring his music and I'd be very surprised if there wasn't some Medtner on the upcoming CD.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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