On Jan 21 & 22, 2017, the Chopin for All free Concert Series will present Eric Lu, the laureate of the 2015 both National and International Chopin Competitions, returning this time to play solo and duo with the outstanding young violinist Ariel Horowitz.
When & Where:
Saturday, January 21, 2017 at 3:00 PM, Broward County Main Library, 100 S. Andrews Ave, Ft. Lauderdale
Sunday, January 22, 2017 at 3:00 PM, Granada Presbyterian Church, 950 University Drive, Coral Gables
What: Eric Lu, a double 2015 Chopin laureate, will perform piano solo and jointly with the violinist Ariel Horowitz. Program includes the music by Chopin, Prokofiev, Brahms and Wieniawski.
FREE ADMISSION – No Tickets Required
More at www.chopin.org
Eighteen-year-old Eric Lu is rapidly building an international reputation as a young pianist with enormous promise, and a distinctive musical voice. Eric is the 1st prize winners of the IX Moscow International Chopin Competition for Young Pianists, and the 2015 National Chopin Competition in Miami, USA where he also received the prize for the best performance of a concerto. In October 2015, Eric had a distinguished participation at the 17th International Fryderyk Chopin Competition in Warsaw, winning the 4th prize at the age of 17, becoming one of the youngest laureates in the history of the competition. 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 has also received significant recognition at a number of other major international events earlier. In 2013, Eric received the 1st prize, and Schubert Prize at the Minnesota International e-Piano Junior Competition. In 2010, Eric won 1st Prize at the XII Ettlingen International Piano Competition in Germany. He received further recognition by the public, winning the Tabor Foundation Piano Award at the Verbier Festival Academy 2015.
With his concert life being very fresh and new, he has already received compelling responses by audiences worldwide to the unique beauty, and intensity of the music he plays. Recent performances include recitals and concerto appearances at the Auditorio Nacional Madrid, Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, Boston Jordan Hall, Nohant Chopin Festival, Krakow Music Festival, Seoul Arts Center, Suntory Hall, Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, Carnegie Hall in New York, and at the 70th International Chopin Festival in Duszniki Poland. Past appearances include performances in Beijing, Vancouver, Bydgoszcz, Torun, Eppan Italy, Minneapolis, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Newport, Miami, Sarasota, Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Birmingham AL. Eric has collaborated with orchestras such as the Warsaw Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, State Youth Orchestra of Armenia, Chopin Foundation Orchestra, Wellesley Symphony, and the Boston Civic Symphony.
He started piano studies at the age of 6 with Mrs. Dorothy Shi in Boston, MA. While at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, he studied piano with Alexander Korsantia, and Mr. A. Ramon Rivera. Currently, Eric studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia with Jonathan Biss and Robert McDonald, and he is also a pupil of the pianist Dang Thai Son.
Hailed by The Washington Post as “sweetly lyrical,” nineteen-year-old violinist Ariel Horowitz cannot remember life before loving music. Winner of top prizes at the Stulberg and Irving M. Klein International String Competitions, as well as he Juilliard School’s Violin Concerto Competition, the Violin Channel praised Ariel’s artistic energy: “If they gave out prizes for attitude…we think we may have found the Olympic champion.” Ariel is a student of Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho at the Juilliard School as a recipient of the Dorothy DeLay Scholarship.
In July 2015, Ariel performed the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Tito Munoz at the Strathmore Music Center and Meyerhoff Symphony Hall to rousing standing ovations. Ariel’s solo appearances also include performances with the Neue Philharmonie Westphalia, Raanana Symphonette, Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra, Carmel Symphony Orchestra, New Albany Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, and the Doctor’s Orchestral Society of New York as well as recitals in the United States, Italy, France, Israel, Brazil, and Argentina. Ariel has attended The Perlman Music Program, Mozarteum Salzburg, Keshet Eilon International Master Course, Yellow Barn YAP, and Orford Music Centre among other festivals. In the 2012 Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists in Beijing, China, Ariel was featured in the Final Gala Concert and received the Morningside Music Bridge Young Artist Award. Ariel was featured on National Public Radio’s From the Top with pianist Christopher O’Reily in 2012, and performed at the From the Top Annual Gala in 2014.
An avid chamber musician, Ariel is a member of the Jakob Quartet; coached by Joseph Lin (Juilliard String Quartet), Catherine Cho, and Daniel Phillips (Orion String Quartet). Ariel performs in the Juilliard Orchestra, most notably under the baton of David Zinman at Carnegie Hall and Maestro Itzhak Perlman at David Geffen (formerly Avery Fisher) Hall and Harris Theater (Chicago). Community engagement at hospitals, nursing homes, and homeless shelters is central to Ariel’s artistic commitment. Ariel served as a Diversity Advocate (2014-15), Gluck Community Service Fellow (2014-16) and Resident Assistant (2015-16) at the Juilliard School.
www.chopin.org