Eric Lu won first prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2018 at the age of 20. The following year, he signed an exclusive contract with Warner Classics and was a recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2021. Since winning the Leeds, Lu has embarked on a world-class career, appearing with some of the world’s most prestigious orchestras and at presitigious recital venues.
Lu’s 22-23 season includes subscription debuts with the London Symphony and Boston Symphony Orchestra. He will also give recitals at the Cologne Philharmonie, Queen Elizabeth Hall London, Leipzig Gewandhaus and return to the Elbphilharmonie, Wigmore Hall and Seoul Arts Center.
Recent seasons highlights include performing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and appearing at the BBC Proms with the Shanghai Symphony. Lu has worked with the Oslo Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony, the Hallé, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, Warsaw Philharmonic and Singapore Symphony and on tour with the Orchestre National de Lille. He has worked with conductors Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Ryan Bancroft, Vasily Petrenko, Edward Gardner, Sir Mark Elder, Thomas Dausgaard, Ruth Reinhardt, Martin Frӧst and Long Yu.
Eric has appeared in recital at Amsterdam Concertgebouw, BOZAR Brussels, 92nd St. Y in New York City, Elbphilharmonie, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Fondation Louis Vuitton Paris, Cal Performances Berkeley, St. Petersburg Philharmonia, and Sala São Paulo. He regularly returns to give recitals at London’s Wigmore Hall, and the Warsaw Philharmonic Hall.
In 2020, Warner Classics released his first studio album, featuring Chopin’s 24 Preludes and Schumann’s Ghost Variations. It was met with critical acclaim and was named as one of BBC Music Magazine’s Instrumental Records of the Year. In 2018, Lu’s winning performances of Beethoven and Chopin from the Leeds with the Hallé and Edward Gardner was released by Warner Classics. He looks forward to his next disc, featuring Schubert’s Sonatas D. 959 and 784, in January 2023.
Born in Massachusetts in 1997, Lu first came to international attention as a 17-year-old laureate of the 2015 Chopin International Competition in Warsaw. He also received the International German Piano Award in 2017. Lu has been a BBC New Generation Artist from 2019 to 2022. He is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, studying with Robert McDonald and Jonathan Biss. He was also a pupil of Dang Thai Son and has been mentored by Mitsuko Uchida and Imogen Cooper. He is now based in Berlin and Boston.
June 2022
Please note: Biographies are based on information provided to the CSO by the artists or their representatives. More current information may be available on websites of the artists or their management.
