American pianist Michael Lu is a young artist with an everlasting desire to unearth and reveal the true essence of each piece of music he touches and convey a powerful spiritual message to each listener in every performance he gives. His thoughtful and intelligent interpretations are rapidly earning him recognition. In 2020, Michael was personally selected by Murray Perahia to participate in his international masterclass in Munich, Germany, where he will work with the great artist on Beethoven’s piano sonata opus 111 and perform a lunch concert with the other nine selected participants. He also had the distinct honor of being one of six selected by Maria João Pires to participate in her inaugural North American Partitura Residency.
Michael has performed as a soloist with numerous orchestras across three continents with such conductors as Sergio Monterisi, Stephen Mulligan, and Gemma New. He won first prize in the Midwest International Piano Competition in 2014 and a gold medal with high distinction in the 2019 Manhattan International Music Competition. Michael is currently a student of Antonio Pompa-Baldi as a full-scholarship student at the Cleveland Institute of Music. His previous mentors were Stanislav Ioudenitch and the late Seth Carlin.
You can hear Lu’s First Round performance during Session 6 on Tuesday, August 4.