Radu Lupu
Vita
The Romanian pianist Radu Lupu, who will soon celebrate his 70th birthday, began learning piano at the age of 6 and gave his first public performance at 12 with a program consisting entirely of his own compositions. In 1961 he received a scholarship to attend the Moscow Conservatory, where he trained under Galina Eghyazarova as well as Heinrich and Sta-nislav Neuhaus. Lupu launched his international career as the winner of the Van Cliburn Competition (1966), the Enescu Competition (1967), and the Leeds Piano Competition (1969). Ever since then he has been a regular guest with such leading orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic, with whom he made his Salzburg Festival debut in 1978, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam,and the major London ensembles. Hisfirst performances in the United States took place in 1972 with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In May 2015 Lupu undertook a tour of Italy and France with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Vladimir Jurowski; in October he performed Mozart’s C major Piano Concerto, K. 467, with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Riccardo Chailly. In recent years he has also given solo recitals in such cities as Madrid, Milan, Amsterdam, and Vienna as well as at the Ruhr Piano Festival and the Schwetzingen Festival. Along with piano concertos by Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, and Grieg, Lupu’s discography includes recordings for piano duo with Murray Perahia and Daniel Barenboim; his Schubert and Schumann recordings have garnered a Grammy Award and the Edison Award. In 2006 Radu Lupu received the Premio Internazionale Arturo Benedetto Michelangeli and the Abbiati Award given by the National Association of Italian Music Critics.
LUCERNE FESTIVAL (IMF) debut on 4 September 1971 performing Beethovenʼs Fifth Piano Concerto with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under István Kertész.
November 2015