Eric Lu (born December 15, 1997) is an American classical

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

. The winner of the

Leeds International Piano Competition The Leeds International Piano Competition, informally known as The Leeds and formerly the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition, is an international piano competition which takes place every three years in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It ...

in 2018, he has performed with many of the world's major orchestras including the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891, the ensemble has been based in the Symphony Center since 1904 and plays a summer season at the Ravinia F ...

Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five (orchestras), Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in ...

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, England. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable recording contracts and important engagemen ...

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic (LA Phil) is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. The orchestra holds a regular concert season from October until June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from ...

Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra ( or , literal translations, "Royal Philharmonic" or "Royal Philharmonic Orchestra") is a Swedish orchestra based in Stockholm. Its principal venue is the Konserthuset. History The orchestra was foun ...

Oslo Philharmonic The Oslo Philharmonic () is a Norwegian symphony orchestra based in Oslo, Norway. The orchestra traces its roots to the Philharmonic Society founded in 1847 and the Christiania Musical Association co-founded by Edvard Grieg in 1871, and was esta ...

, and on tour with the Orchestre national de Lille. Lu records for

Warner Classics Warner Classics is the classical music arm of Warner Music Group. The label began issuing new recordings under the Warner Classics banner in 1991. The company also includes the Erato Records and Teldec Records labels. Based in France, Warner Cla ...

under an exclusive contract, and has released critically acclaimed recordings of

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, often set within studied ye ...

, Chopin,

Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

, and

Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

on the label.

Early life and education

Eric Lu was born on December 15, 1997, in

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

to a father from

Kaohsiung Kaohsiung, officially Kaohsiung City, is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsiung City has a population of approximately 2.73 million p ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

, and a mother from

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. He grew up in

Bedford, Massachusetts Bedford is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population of Bedford was 14,161 at th2022 United States census History ''The following compilation comes from Ellen Abrams (1999) based on information from Abram Engl ...

, and started piano studies at age six with Dorothy Shi () in the Boston area. Later on, he enrolled at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, where he studied with Alexander Korsantia and A. Ramon Rivera. In 2013, he was admitted into the

Curtis Institute of Music The Curtis Institute of Music is a private conservatory in Philadelphia. It offers a performance diploma, a Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in opera, and a Professional Studies Certificate in opera. All students attend on a full scholarshi ...

in Philadelphia, where he studied with

Jonathan Biss Jonathan Biss (born September 18, 1980) is an American pianist, teacher, and writer based in Philadelphia. He is the co-artistic director (with Mitsuko Uchida) of the Marlboro Music Festival. Early life and education Biss was born into a fami ...

and Robert McDonald. He is also a pupil of Dang Thai Son.

Career

In October 2015, Lu won the 4th prize at the 17th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Poland at the age of 17, becoming one of the youngest laureates in the history of the competition. Shortly afterwards, he performed his debut at the 70th International Chopin Festival in Duszniki, Poland. He went on a tour of Japan and Korea with the Warsaw Philharmonic along with the other prizewinners of the competition in January 2016. In 2017, Lu won the International German Piano Award in Frankfurt. He also won the audience prize. In 2018, at age 20, Lu won the First Prize and gold medal at the

. He was the first American pianist to win since

Murray Perahia Murray David Perahia ( ; born April 19, 1947) is an American pianist and conductor. He has been considered one of the greatest living pianists. He was the first North American pianist to win the Leeds International Piano Competition, in 1972. ...

. He played Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 in the finals with the Hallé Orchestra conducted by Edward Gardner. After winning, he was immediately signed by Askonas Holt and

. His first concert after winning Leeds was a debut with the

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Royal Liverpool Philharmonic is a music organisation based in Liverpool, England, that manages a professional symphony orchestra, a concert venue, and extensive programmes of learning through music. Its orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmo ...

and

Vasily Petrenko Vasily Eduardovich Petrenko (; born 7 July 1976) is a Russian-British conductor. He is currently music director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Biography Of Russian and Ukrainian ancestry, Petrenko was born in Leningrad, USSR. He attend ...

. He subsequently made recital debuts at

Wigmore Hall The Wigmore Hall is a concert hall at 36 Wigmore Street, in west London. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and opened in 1901 as the Bechstein Hall; it is considered to have particularly good building acoustics, acoustics. It specialis ...

Amsterdam Concertgebouw The Royal Concertgebouw (, ) is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" translates into English as "concert building". Its superb Architectural acoustics, acoustics place it among the finest concert halls in the ...

Louis Vuitton Foundation The Louis Vuitton Foundation ( French: ''Fondation d'entreprise Louis-Vuitton''), previously Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation (''Fondation Louis-Vuitton pour la création''), is a French art museum and cultural center sponsored by the group L ...

in Paris,

Saint Petersburg Philharmonia Saint Petersburg Philharmonia (), officially the Saint Petersburg Academic Philharmonia Named After D. D. Shostakovich (), is a music society located in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and is the name of the building where it is housed. Also there is ...

, and

Shanghai Grand Theatre The Shanghai Grand Theatre () is a complex located at the intersection of Renmin Avenue and Huangpi North Road in the northern part of the People's Square in the Huangpu District of Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese ...

. His UK recital debut in Bristol was praised by

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

: 'Lu seems already to possess something of the magic touch of early Leeds laureates Murray Perahia and Radu Lupu'. In June 2019, Lu replaced

Martha Argerich Martha Argerich (; ; born 5 June 1941) is an Argentine classical concert pianist. Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argerich gave her debut concert at the age of eight before receiving further piano training in Europe. At an early age, she won sev ...

in a concert with the

Singapore Symphony Orchestra The Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Singapore. Its principal concert venue is the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay. The orchestra also gives concerts at the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall, and performs ...

. Lu made his debut at the 2019 BBC Proms at London's

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

with the

Shanghai Symphony Orchestra The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra () is a symphony orchestra in Shanghai, China. Its music director is Long Yu. Founded in 1879, the SSO is the oldest List of symphony orchestras#China, Chinese symphony orchestra. Originally, it was known as the ...

and

Yu Long Yu Long (; born July 1, 1964) is a Chinese conductor. He is currently artistic director and chief conductor of the China Philharmonic and of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, and principal gu ...

. In 2022, he stepped in on short notice to perform with the

and

Riccardo Muti Riccardo Muti (; born 28 July 1941) is an Italian conductor. He is current music director of the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini. Muti has previously held posts at the Maggio Musicale in Florence, the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the ...

, replacing

Maurizio Pollini Maurizio Pollini (5 January 1942 – 23 March 2024) was an Italian pianist and conductor. He was known for performances of Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, and the Second Viennese School, among others. He championed works by contemporary composers ...

; the ''Chicago Tribune'' noted Lu's "perfectly idiomatic" interpretation of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 27 (K. 595) and his "pliant, gossamer touch".

Discography

Lu currently records for

under an exclusive contract. His first major release was in 2020, of an album of Chopin's 24 Preludes, Op. 28; Schumann's '' Geistervariationen''; and Brahms' Intermezzo, Op. 117 No. 1. Lu followed this with an all-Schubert disc, which was released in 2022.

Awards

* 2010: XII Ettlingen International Competition for Young Pianists – First Prize * 2013: III Minnesota International e-Piano Junior Competition – First Prize and Schubert Prize * 2014: IX Moscow International Fryderyk Chopin Competition for Young Pianists – First Prize * 2015: IX US National Chopin Competition – First Prize and Prize for Best Performance of a Concerto * 2015:

XVII International Chopin Piano Competition The XVII International Chopin Piano Competition () was held in Warsaw on April 13–24, 2015 (preliminary round) and October 1–23, 2015 (main competition and concerts). Prize winners' concerts were on October 21–23, 2015. Seong-Jin Cho of So ...

– Fourth Prize * 2017
VII International German Piano Award
– First Prize and FAZ Audience Award * 2018:

– First Prize and Terence Judd–Hallé Orchestra Prize

References

External links

Polskie Radio- Eric Lu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lu, Eric 1997 births Living people American male classical pianists American male pianists Prize-winners of the International Chopin Piano Competition American musicians of Chinese descent American musicians of Taiwanese descent 21st-century American classical pianists Curtis Institute of Music alumni 21st-century American male musicians