Internationally Acclaimed U.S. Chopin & Warsaw Chopin Competition Medalist, Eric Lu in Concert

ERIC LU BIOGRAPHY:

A native of the Boston, Massachusetts area, 19-year old pianist Eric Lu won the 1^st prize at the 2015 US National Chopin Competition in Miami, and recently, won the 1^st prize and audience award at the 2017 International German Piano Award in Frankfurt.  In October 2015, at 17 years old, Eric won the 4^th prize at the 17^th International Fryderyk Chopin Competition in Warsaw, becoming one of the youngest laureates in the history of the prestigious competition. Following these recent successes, Eric received invitations to perform in many important venues around the world in just the past two years, including Carnegie Hall in New York, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, Alte Oper Hall in Frankfurt, Chopin and his Europe Festival in Warsaw, Jordan Hall in Boston, Taipei National Concert Hall, Beijing Concert Hall, Strathmore Music Center, the International Chopin Festival in Duszniki, Poland, NOSPR Concert Hall in Katowice, Krakow Philharmonic Concert Hall, Nohant Chopin Festival, and a tour of Japan and Korea following the Chopin Competition, performing in halls such as Seoul Arts Center, Tokyo Metropolitan Hall, Osaka Symphony Hall, Sapporo Arts Center, among others.  Described by the New York Classical Review as a musician of “exceptional musical sensitivity”, as well as by Michael Moran from the Duszniki Festival proclaiming, “The tone he produced was luminous, the articulation spellbinding and exciting, the legato and bel canto desperately moving.”

Eric Lu started piano studies at the age of 6 with Mrs. Dorothy Shi. While at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, he studied with Alexander Korsantia, and Mr. A. Ramon Rivera. In 2013, Eric entered the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he currently studies with Profs. Robert McDonald and Jonathan Biss. He is also a pupil of the pianist Dang Thai Son.

Paving the way included earlier achievements of 1^st prizes at the Moscow International Chopin Competition for Young Pianists(2014), the Minnesota International e-Piano Junior Competition(2013), and the XII Ettlingen International Competition in Germany(2010).  Eric has collaborated with orchestras such as the Warsaw Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Staatskapelle Halle, National Philharmonic, Arthur Rubinstein Philharmonic, Orchestra of the 18^th century, Orquestra Clasica Santa Cecilia, New Jersey Symphony, Sinfonietta Cracovia, Rzeszow and Kielce Philharmonics, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, etc. Following his performance of Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 during the final of the International Piano Award, the Darmstadter Echo wrote, “Lu received thundering applause after a sheer unbelievable performance of the work. Oscillating between melancholy and turmoil, he follows the expressive themes of the work with sensitivity, peeling out melodies with fascinating clarity from the virtuosic, densely-written piano part.” His debut CD was released under the Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw, recorded from the Chopin Competition 2015.

MAESTRO DAVENPORT BIOGRAPHY:

Born in Walla Walla, Washington, Maestro A. Brian Davenport began his interest in music at the age of four. After obtaining his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music from Harvard, he spent three years in Paris, France, studying music under the famous Nadia Boulanger, and conducting in Monte Carlo under the tutelage of Igor Markevitch. He has conducted orchestras in countries throughout the world, including China, Scandanavia, Germany, and Ukraine. In 1990, he conducted the Federal Way Symphony in the opening sellout performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony for the Goodwill Games. He also conducted the world premiere of Handel’s Messiah in Russian in the city of Kazan.