During his auspicious career before winning the 2021 American Pianist Awards and Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship, Kenny Broberg captured the silver medal at the 2017 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and a bronze medal at the 2019 International Tchaikovsky Competition as well as prizes at the Hastings, Sydney, Seattle and New Orleans International Piano Competitions, becoming one of the most decorated and internationally renowned pianists of his generation. Broberg is lauded for his inventive, intelligent and intense performances.
“Broberg mastered everything he performed over the weekend, pulling a palette of moods from every register,” The Indianapolis Star writes of Broberg’s performance during the Finals for American Pianists Awards. “In the ‘Dante Sonata’ from Liszt's Years of Pilgrimage, the pianist easily captured the drama in the journey, marrying all of the energy of those emotions in the epic ending.”
Crediting his first exposure to classical music to his Italian grandfather’s love of the Three Tenors, Broberg began piano lessons on his family’s upright piano at age six. During his childhood in Minneapolis, he began studying piano with Dr. Joseph Zins at Crocus Hill Studios in Saint Paul. Throughout high school, he balanced his musical lessons with playing baseball and hockey. He remains an avid fan for both the Minnesota Twins and Wild and checks their scores while on breaks during his practice.
Broberg earned a Bachelor of Music in 2016 at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music, studying under Nancy Weems. He continued his studies at Park University in Parkville, Missouri, under the direction of Stanislav Ioudenitch, the gold medalist at the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Starting in the 2022/23 academic year, Broberg will join the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid as Deputy Professor of the Fundación Banco Santander Piano Chair led by Ioudenitch.
Performing on stages and in concert halls across Europe, Asia, Australia and North America, Broberg has worked with some of the world’s most respected conductors, including Ludovic Morlot, Kent Nagano, Leonard Slatkin, Vasily Petrenko, Nicholas Milton, John Storgårds, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Gerard Schwarz and Stilian Kirov. He has collaborated with the Royal Philharmonic and the Minnesota, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Sydney, Seattle and Fort Worth Symphonies, among others. He has been featured on WQXR, Performance Today, Minnesota Public Radio and ABC (Australia) radio, and presented his original composition Barcarolle on NPR in March 2021.
As part of the American Pianist Awards, he will release his first studio album with the Steinway & Sons label in late 2022.
The Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship also provides Broberg with a prize valued at $200,000 designed to assist him as he builds his musical career. It includes $50,000 in cash, two years of professional development and assistance and performance opportunities worldwide. Broberg will also work with students and host performances during his time on campus as the artist-in-residence at the University of Indianapolis. Before embarking on his international concerts, Broberg performed in his adopted home of Kansas City, Missouri, for the concert KC Celebrates Kenny Broberg in September 2021.
Kenny Broberg appears as winner of the 2021 American Pianists Awards.