Eric Lu

Last updated
Eric Lu
陸逸軒 [1]
Eric Lu.jpeg
Background information
BornDecember 15, 1997 (1997-12-15) (age 26)
Massachusetts, United States
Genres Classical
Occupation Pianist
Instrument Piano

Eric Lu (born December 15, 1997) is an American classical pianist. The recipient of the gold medal at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2018, he has performed with many of the world's major orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, and on tour with the Orchestre national de Lille. [2] [3] He records for Warner Classics under an exclusive contract, [4] [5] and has released critically acclaimed recordings of Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Schubert, and Schumann on the label. [6] [7] [8] [9]

Contents

Early life and education

Eric Lu was born on December 15, 1997, in Massachusetts to a father from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and a mother from Shanghai, China. [1] He grew up in Bedford, Massachusetts, and started piano studies at age six with Dorothy Shi (杨镜钏) 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 in Philadelphia, where he studied with Jonathan Biss 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, [10] [11] [12] 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. [13] 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. [14]

In 2018, at age 20, Lu won the First Prize and gold medal at the Leeds International Piano Competition. [15] He was the first American pianist to win since Murray Perahia. 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 Warner Classics. His first concert after winning Leeds was a debut with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Vasily Petrenko. He subsequently made recital debuts at Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, [16] Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, [17] Saint Petersburg Philharmonia, and Shanghai Grand Theatre. His UK recital debut in Bristol was praised by The Guardian: 'Lu seems already to possess something of the magic touch of early Leeds laureates Murray Perahia and Radu Lupu'. [18]

In June 2019, Lu replaced Martha Argerich in a concert with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Lu made his debut at the 2019 BBC Proms at London's Royal Albert Hall with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and Yu Long. [19]

In 2022, he stepped in on short notice to perform with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Riccardo Muti, replacing Maurizio Pollini; the Chicago Tribune noted Lu's "perfectly idiomatic" interpretation of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 27 (K. 595) and his "pliant, gossamer touch". [20]

Discography

Lu currently records for Warner Classics 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. [21] Lu followed this with an all-Schubert disc, which was released in 2022. [22]

Awards

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References

  1. 1 2 "蕭邦國際鋼琴大賽 台裔青年陸逸軒奪第4名 - 生活 - 自由時報電子報". News.ltn.com.tw. 21 October 2015. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  2. ↑ "Eric Lu". BSO. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  3. ↑ "Review: Muti conducts 'Pictures from an Exhibition' at the CSO — with all the bittersweet reminders of time's forward march". Chicago Tribune. 7 October 2022. Retrieved 2022-10-23.
  4. ↑ "Eric Lu | Warner Classics". www.warnerclassics.com. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  5. ↑ "Eric Lu signs exclusive contract with Warner Classics". Pianist. 2019-09-03. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  6. ↑ "Schubert: Piano Sonatas etc (Eric Lu)". Classical Music. 24 January 2023. Retrieved 2023-05-10.
  7. ↑ "Eric Lu's Schubert: Piano Sonatas spacious, unhurried and often exquisite". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2023-05-10.
  8. ↑ "CHOPIN Preludes SCHUMANN Ghost Variations (Eric Lu)". Gramophone. Retrieved 2023-05-10.
  9. ↑ "Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4; Chopin: Sonata No. 2; Ballade No. 4". Classical Music. March 2020. Retrieved 2023-05-10.
  10. ↑ "Chopin Competition 2015 – 17th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition". Chopin Competition 2015 – 17th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition. Archived from the original on May 20, 2016. Retrieved May 26, 2016.
  11. ↑ "17-year-old-wins-chopin-competition". South Florida Classical Review.
  12. ↑ "Prep Alumnus wins Fourth Prize at Chopin Competition". necmusic.edu. 21 October 2015.
  13. ↑ "Review of Eric Lu recital". Chopin society. August 11, 2015. Retrieved May 26, 2016.
  14. ↑ "Eric Lu" . Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  15. ↑ Tilden, Imogen (2018-09-16). "US pianist Eric Lu wins top prize at Leeds competition". The Guardian. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  16. ↑ "Eric Lu Concertgebouw". concertgebouw.nl. 2019-12-29. Retrieved 2020-01-02.
  17. ↑ "Eric Lu Fondation Louis Vuitton". fondationlouisvuitton.fr. 2018-03-08. Retrieved 2020-01-02.
  18. ↑ Evans, Rian (2018-11-07). "Eric Lu review – Leeds winner has grace, wisdom and poetry 5 / 5 stars 5 out of 5 stars". The Guardian. Retrieved 2019-01-16.
  19. ↑ "2019 BBC Proms". BBC.co.uk. 2019-09-01. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  20. ↑ "Review: Muti conducts 'Pictures from an Exhibition' at the CSO — with all the bittersweet reminders of time's forward march". Chicago Tribune. 7 October 2022. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  21. ↑ "CHOPIN Preludes SCHUMANN Ghost Variations (Eric Lu)". Gramophone. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  22. ↑ "Schubert: Piano Sonatas etc (Eric Lu)". Classical Music. 24 January 2023. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
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