“Michael Lu, producing a warm, enveloping tone, led off with a classy reading of a Schubert Impromptu (Op. 142 No. 1)” —Cleveland Classical, reviewing a performance at the 2020 Cleveland International Piano Competition “Virtu(al)oso”
“…touched me…I could recognize Schubert…” —Maria João Pires, after listening to a performance of the second movement of the sonata D.850
“…his ability to communicate his innermost feelings though the music is indeed profound.” —Franklin Cohen
“Michael Lu is a uniquely gifted and highly talented pianist.” —Alexander Toradze
“Michael is a rare talent that I just want to sum up in a few words: charismatic, impressive, musical (rare quality to find in the new generation of pianists as we all know), exciting, polished, and always ready to perform all sorts of different repertoire. He always surprises me. What I like the most is the fact that he is always personal: interesting and with a new refreshing insight and approach to the Music he plays. Always charming and individual, he greatly impacts the people who listen to him.” —Eduardo Delgado
Upcoming performances
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Michael is one of six invited pianists to Maria João Pires’ Partitura Workshop at the Gilmore Piano Festival, the workshop’s first realization in the United States. Michael studied intensively with the great pianist from May 17 to 26 at the Jolliffe Theatre at Kalamazoo’s Epic Center.
On May 21, Maestra Pires and the Partitura residents performed a special Gilmore Piano Festival concert at Kalamazoo’s Stetson Chapel. Michael performed solo works by Schumann and was thrilled to collaborate with Maestra Pires and fellow Partitura resident Francesco Granata in a performance of Rachmaninoff.
Michael would like to extend special thanks to dearest friend, studiomate, and incredible musician and pianist Jingshi Zhao, who played the secondo piano part of the Brahms D minor concerto in the two-piano version for his audition recording. (Hear excerpts from their collaboration on the B-flat concerto from early 2022)
Murray Perahia selected Michael Lu as one of ten pianists to participate in his Beethoven Masterclass in Munich, Germany. Michael worked on Beethoven’s Piano Sonata Op. 111 with the great pianist and performed a lunch concert with the nine other selected pianists in June 2022.
Michael performed a special, live-streamed mini-concert celebrating International Women’s Day on March 8, 2021, at 8 pm EST, for Classical Music for a Better World. The program included works by the Venezuelan Teresa Carreño (1853-1917); the Ethiopian Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou (b. 1923); the German Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847); the Americans Jennifer Higdon (b. 1962) and Florence Price (1887-1953); and the Bohemian Juliane Reichardt (1752-1783). The replay is no longer available, but the Hensel from that concert can be viewed here.