Eric Lu

Life and career

Summarize

Perspective

Eric Lu was born in Massachusetts on December 15, 1997, to a Taiwanese father from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and a Chinese mother from Shanghai, China.^[10] He grew up in Bedford, Massachusetts, and started piano studies at age six with Dorothy Shi (杨镜钏) in the Boston area.^[10] He later enrolled at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, where he studied with pianists Alexander Korsantia and A. Ramon Rivera. In 2013, he was admitted into the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with pianists Jonathan Biss and Robert McDonald. He is also a pupil of classical pianist Đặng Thái Sơn.

In 2015, at age 17, Lu won fourth prize at the XVII International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw,^[11]^[12]^[13] becoming one of the youngest laureates in the competition's history. There, he befriended Charles Richard-Hamelin, who was also participating in the competition that year.^[14] Shortly afterward, he performed his debut at the 70th International Chopin Festival in Duszniki, Poland.^[15] He toured Japan and Korea with the Warsaw Philharmonic along with the competition's other prizewinners in January 2016.

In 2017, Lu won the International German Piano Award in Frankfurt, also winning the audience prize.^[16]

In 2018, aged 20, Lu won first prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition.^[17] He was the first American pianist to win since Murray Perahia. He played Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in the finals with the Hallé Orchestra conducted by Edward Gardner. After winning, he was signed by Askonas Holt and Warner Classics. His first concert was his debut with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Vasily Petrenko. He subsequently played recitals at Wigmore Hall, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw,^[18] the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris,^[19] the Saint Petersburg Philharmonia and the Shanghai Grand Theatre. The Guardian wrote of his Bristol recital: "Lu seems already to possess something of the magic touch of early Leeds laureates Murray Perahia and Radu Lupu."^[20]

In June 2019, Lu substituted for Martha Argerich in a concert with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.^[21] He made his debut at the 2019 BBC Proms at London's Royal Albert Hall with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and Yu Long.^[22]

In 2022, Lu 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 and his "pliant, gossamer touch."^[3]

In 2025, Lu won the XIX International Chopin Piano Competition.^[23] He is the second American winner of the competition, after Garrick Ohlsson in 1970, and the second winner to play Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 after Dang Thai Son in 1980. He is also the only person to have taken part twice and won a prize both times. A live album of performance highlights from the competition will be released by Deutsche Grammophon.^[24]^[25]

Remove ads

Accolades

2010: XII Ettlingen International Competition for Young Pianists – First Prize^[28]
2013: III Minnesota International e-Piano Junior Competition – First Prize and Schubert Prize^[28]
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^[2]
2015: XVII International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw – Fourth Prize^[29]
2017: VII International German Piano Award – First Prize and FAZ Audience Award^[30]^[31]
2018: Leeds International Piano Competition – First Prize and Terence Judd–Hallé Orchestra Prize^[32]
2025: XIX International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw – First Prize^[33]

Life and career