Eric Lu is the First Prize Winner of the 19th International Chopin Piano Competition 2025 in Warsaw. Before that he had won First Prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2018 at the age of 20. Eric’s always thoughtful, poetically imbued and powerful interpretations have already made him one of the most distinctive artists on the international music scene.
Eric has been the guest of such major orchestras as London Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Helsinki Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic, NOSPR Katowice, Singapore Symphony, Shanghai Symphony at the BBC Proms, and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony. He has played under conductors like Riccardo Muti, Fabio Luisi, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Ryan Bancroft, Edward Gardner, Xi’An Zhang, Rafael Payare, Marin Alsop, Thomas Dausgaard, Tabita Berglund, Sir Mark Elder, Tomas Netopil, Duncan Ward, Kerem Hasan, Vasily Petrenko, Ruth Reinhardt, Kahchun Wong, Earl Lee, Nuno Coehlo, Martin Frӧst.
In the 2026/27 and 2027/28 seasons, Eric returns to Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with music director Vasily Petrenko at Royal Festival Hall and NHK Symphony with Ryan Bancroft. He debuts with Academy St Martin in the Fields, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under Markus Poschner, Bamberger Symphoniker with Jakub Hrusa, and Eva Ollikainen, Hong Kong Philharmonic with Lio Kuokman, Evergreen Symphony with Jaap van Zweden, Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin with Andris Poga, Gürzenich Orchester with Julie Rossland, Antwerp Symphony with Osmo Vänskä. He plays Joe Hisaichi’s piano concerto under the composer’s baton with Houston Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonia Orchestra.
Active as a recitalist, he performs at Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Barbican Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Wigmore Hall in London, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées Paris, Konzerthaus Vienna, Berlin Philharmonie’s Kammermusiksaal, Prinzregententheater Munich, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Cologne Philharmonie, Essen Philharmonie, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Liederhalle Stuttgart, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, KKL Lucerne, BOZAR and Flagey Brussels, Teatro alla Scala and Società del Quartetto Milan, Torino Lingotto, Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, Tivoli Copenhagen, La Roque d’Anthéron, Klavier Festival Ruhr, Festival de Pâques Aix en Provence, Prague Spring Festival, Chopin and his Europe Festival, San Francisco Davies Hall, Cal Performances, Aspen Music Festival, Stanford Live, McCarter Theater Princeton, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Lotte Concert Hall and Seoul Arts Center, Shanghai Symphony Hall, Victoria Hall Singapore.
Eric is an exclusive Warner Classics artist. His 4th album featuring the 2 opuses of Schubert’s Impromptus was released in January 2026. His previous albums on Warner Classics were all met with worldwide critical acclaim. His 2022 Schubert album won BBC Music Magazine’s Instrumental Choice while his previous Brahms-Chopin-Schumann album was hailed "truly magical" by International Piano.
Born in Massachusetts in 1997, Eric Lu first came to international attention as a Laureate of the 2015 Chopin International Competition in Warsaw, aged just 17. He was also awarded the International German Piano Award in 2017, and Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2021. Eric was 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 and studied with Dang Thai Son. He is now based between Berlin and Boston.