March 18, 2017 Family Concert

“Magnificent Masterworks”

Featuring
Eric Lu, piano
Wang Hua-Yi Studio Violin Virtuosi

Program
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3
Ravel “Bolero”
Ma SiCong “A Mongolian Dance”

Return to 2016-17 Season 

19-year old pianist Eric Lu is rapidly building an international reputation as a young pianist with enormous promise, and a distinctive musical voice.

A native of the Boston, Massachusetts area, Eric is the 1st prize winner of the 2015 US National Chopin Competition in Miami, where he also received the best concerto prize. In October 2015, at 17 years old, Eric won the 4th prize at the 17th International Fryderyk Chopin Competition in Warsaw, becoming one of the youngest laureates in the history of the competition. Earlier achievements include 1st 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). 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.”

Highlights over the last two years include performances at Carnegie Hall in New York, Auditorio Nacional de Madrid, Chopin and his Europe Festival in Warsaw, International Duszniki Chopin Festival, Beijing Concert Hall, Seoul Arts Center, Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, Osaka Symphony Hall, Sapporo Concert Hall, Krakow Philharmonic Hall, NOSPR Concert Hall in Katowice, Nohant Chopin Festival, among others. Eric has collaborated with orchestras such as the Warsaw Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Orchestra of the 18th Century, Orquestra Clasica Santa Cecilia, New Jersey Symphony, Arthur Rubinstein Philharmonic, Rzeszow Philharmonic, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, State Youth Orchestra of Armenia, etc.

He started piano studies at the age of 6 with Mrs. Dorothy Shi. While at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, he studied piano 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 pianist Dang Thai Son.

Born in China, Hua-Yi Wang graduated from the Central Conservatory in Beijing.  He was a child prodigy, having received scholarships to study violin with Wang Zhi Long and piano with Liu Pei Ying at the age of nine. In two years, Wang became the soloist and the concertmaster of the Junior Orchestra at the Central Conservatory.  He was a child prodigy and studied violin, chamber music and composition under the world renowned Maestro Ma Si Cong. He gave numerous solo recitals, and was the Concertmaster of the Central Conservatory Orchestra.  Wang graduated with outstanding achievements and became the understudy of the Concertmaster of the National Philharmonic Orchestra.

During the Cultural Revolution, Wang was persecuted and served in a labor camp for 10 years.  Wang came to the United States in 1985, and received his Masters degree from the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.  He studied violin and chamber music under Isak Vigdorchik and graduated first in his class.  The Director of the program, J. Smith stated that “Mr. Wang is a diligent violinist with magnificent talents…….He will definitely bring honor to the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.”

A highly-respected and dedicated teacher for the last 25 years, Mr. Wang is a resident of New Jersey. More than 15% of the violinists and violists of the New Jersey All State Orchestra have studied with him.  His brilliant teaching style is recognized by the Music Teacher National Association (MTNA) and The National Association for Music Education. 

Students performing in the Hua-Yi Wang Violin Studio Virtuoso are:

Timothy Dai, Alan Du, Michael Li, Jessica Ling, Adrianna Liu, Joyce Lu, Irene Qiao, Michelle Qing, Tyler Wu and Sydney Yan.