Eric Lu

Eric Lu (born December 15, 1997) is an American classical pianist. He is the winner of the XIX International Chopin Piano Competition (2025) in Warsaw, Poland, and the winner of the 2018 Leeds International Piano Competition in Leeds, England. He is one of only two pianists, alongside Radu Lupu, to have won two of the four major international piano competitions.^[1][a]

Lu first achieved notoriety after placing fourth in the 2015 XVII International Chopin Piano Competition; at age 17, he was one of the youngest laureates ever in the history of the International Chopin Competition.^[3] He then won the 19th Leeds International Piano Competition at age 20 as its youngest finalist, securing first prize with his performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4.^[4] He returned to the Chopin Competition in 2025 and won its first prize after performing Polonaise-Fantaisie and Piano Concerto No. 2 in the final.^[5]

Lu has performed with many of the world's major orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, and Oslo Philharmonic. He records for Warner Classics under an exclusive contract.^[6][7] He has released critically acclaimed recordings of Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Schubert, and Schumann on the label.^[8][9]

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][11] His Chinese name is Lu Yi-hsuan (traditional Chinese: 陸逸軒; simplified Chinese: 陆逸轩; pinyin: Lù Yìxuān).^[12] Both of his parents are computer engineers who cultivated an appreciation for classical music at home.^[13] Lu recalled in 2022 that "no one was a musician in the family, but my dad loved classical music. We had lots of records in the house."^[14] His mother's Chinese surname is Xie (Chinese: 谢; pinyin: Xiè).^[13] After graduating from Fudan University, she became involved in software design.^[15]

Lu grew up in Bedford, Massachusetts.^[16] He has an older sister who also studied piano.^[14] As an infant, he was briefly raised in Shanghai.^[13] He began playing the piano at age five, while under the tutelage of pianist Yang Jingchuan (Chinese: 杨镜川; pinyin: Yáng Jìngchuān) of the China National Symphony Orchestra.^[11] Through Yang, Lu was also tutored as a child by the Chinese pianist and composer Yin Chengzong.^[11]

In 2013, Lu graduated from the New England Conservatory Preparatory School.^[17] While there, he studied under classical pianists Alexander Korsantia and A. Ramón Rivera, and was a pupil of pianist Đặng Thái Sơn.^[18] He then began attending the Curtis Institute of Music at 15 years old.^[19] He studied under pianists Jonathan Biss and Robert McDonald,^[20] and graduated in 2020.^[21]

In 2010, Lu won the first prize in the 12th Ettlingen International Piano Competition in Germany. Next year, he received a special prize chosen by the public at the 2011 Junior Academy Eppan in Italy. In 2012, he won the concerto competition at the Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts in Walnut Hill, Medford, Massachusetts.^[22]

In August 2014, Lu won first prize at the 9th Moscow International Chopin Competition for Young Pianists. In 2013, he won first prize at the Minnesota International e-Piano Junior Competition and additionally received its special Schubert Prize. In 2010, he won the first prize of the 12th Ettlingen International Competition in Germany.^[23]

In 2015, at age 17, Lu won fourth prize at the XVII International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw,^[24][25][26] 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.^[27] Shortly afterward, he performed his debut at the 70th International Chopin Festival in Duszniki, Poland.^[28] 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, and also won its audience prize.^[29]

In 2018, aged 20, Lu won first prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition.^[4] Lang Lang presented Lu the prize.^[30] 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,^[31] the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris,^[32] 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."^[33] After winning the Leeds Competition, he began being mentored by Mitsuko Uchida and Imogen Cooper.^[34]

In June 2019, Lu substituted for Martha Argerich in a concert with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.^[35] He made his debut at the 2019 BBC Proms at London's Royal Albert Hall with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and Yu Long.^[36]

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."^[37]

In 2025, Lu won the XIX International Chopin Piano Competition,^[5] winning first prize among the more than 600 other pianists participating.^[38] He was the second American to win the competition, after Garrick Ohlsson in 1970, and the second winner to play Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2, after Đặng Thái Sơn in 1980. He is also the only person to have taken part twice and won a prize both times.^[39] A live album of performance highlights from the competition will be released by Deutsche Grammophon.^[40][41]

Lu 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's Intermezzo, Op. 117 No. 1.^[42][43] Lu followed this with an all-Schubert disc, released in 2022.^[44][45] In January 2026, he released an album of Schubert's Impromptus; in a review, The Guardian remarked that "Perhaps these performances aren’t yet quite distinctive enough to make this recording top choice in a crowded field, but they certainly back up the Chopin judges’ decision: Lu is a serious talent."^[46]

• 2010: XII Ettlingen International Competition for Young Pianists – First Prize^[47]
• 2013: III Minnesota International e-Piano Junior Competition – First Prize and Schubert Prize^[47]
• 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^[48]
• 2015: XVII International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw – Fourth Prize^[49]
• 2017: VII International German Piano Award – First Prize and FAZ Audience Award^[50][51]
• 2018: Leeds International Piano Competition – First Prize and Terence Judd–Hallé Orchestra Prize^[52]
• 2025: XIX International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw – First Prize^[53]

• Polskie Radio- Eric Lu