Boston pianist Eric Lu wins Leeds piano competition
Boston pianist Eric Lu won the 19th Leeds International Piano Competition on Saturday night. He performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Hallé Orchestra at the Leeds town hall, located in West Yorkshire, England.
Lu, 20, was the youngest of the five finalists who performed over the weekend. Pianist Lang Lang awarded Lu his prize. As the first place winner, Lu will get to play at such venues as London’s Wigmore Hall and Southbank Centre and perform with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Lu’s win also earned him an album contract with Warner Classics and a prize of around $33,000.
“Winning here is a great honor,’’ Lu told the Guardian. “This competition has such a rich history with so many of my idols among previous winners. Beethoven’s fourth is such a miraculous piece; it was an inspiration and a joy to play.’’
Prior to Leeds, Lu won prizes at the 2015 International Fryderyk Chopin Competition in Warsaw, the 2015 Tabor Foundation Piano Award at the Verbier Festival Academy, and the 2010 XII Ettlingen International Competition in Germany, among other awards, according to Lu’s website.
Raised in the Boston area, Lu now trains at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, but he previously studied at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School in Boston.
